#but then the camera would zoom out and i would go oh they're so far away they're tiny.

[callixton]

hmm i think another thing i like abt kencen is chess should be played on a smaller stage. now i am an intimate staging truther for almost every play so i may be biased but that doesn't make it less true for chess. like i get the appeal of the big sets bc of the way they travel thru location and our initial reaction upon literally visualizing chess on a stage, but i think it makes it so easy for characters to get swallowed and for the stage to feel very empty. which may work like. conceptually but i think in practice it just limits the actor's effect. & i know that you can argue that chess is a show that needs to get by partially on spectacle bc of the quality of the book but i disagree just choose a good book. or make up for it w staging and strong character choices. it's not like it has a shallow plot bc it really doesn't it just doesn't have a well resolved one. which is actually another argument for it to be in an intimate space bc it will make the audience feel more personally invested in the characters rather than the story and will care what happens to them even if they leave with questions (does this distinction make sense?). i'm also not saying that chess Couldn't be done well on a big stage i just think most of the time it isn't

[samueldays]

Sam Reviews: Phoenix Point, part 1

Phoenix Point is down to ten bucks on GOG, DLC included!

I bought it, figuring even a half-decent XCOM clone is worth it for ten bucks. So far it feels like a $10 game indeed. I'm probably not going to finish it before the sale ends, I have a job, so here's my initial impressions for those interested and I'll come back with part 2 later.

Tutorial missions, fine. First regular mission against crab monsters, fine. Second regular mission pits me against gun-happy human bandits, and I am unpleasantly surprised that they return fire whenever they're shot at, getting 4 counter-attacks in a turn if 4 people shoot at them, they even "return fire" upon having a grenade thrown at them.

Solution: run up and bash them in the head with the butt of a gun repeatedly, they don't get to return fire from that. I grumbled about that, and the game feels like 'that' repeatedly.

I didn't like the puzzle boss nature of infinite return fire. One return fire per turn would have been cool, and enabled tactical counterplay options. Unlimited return fire breaks the action economy, breaks my immersion for the game abstraction of "action points", and makes me feel this is going to be a game about cheesing AP limits and ruleslawyer combos. Also, the infinite return fire ability was on multiple nameless minions in that mission, not even reserved for a boss. Bash bash bash bash!

I didn't like the lack of game hints in this context. I had Hints turned on for a first run at low difficulty. The Hints make suggestions for what to research, how game mechanics work, and provide informative popups the first time a new strain of crab monster appears. But there was no Hint popup about the first encounter with an enemy having the Return Fire ability, no tooltip on mouseover of enemy, nor was there any indication of what actions trigger Return Fire, despite this being significantly more impactful than "this crab monster regenerates".

I didn't like the solution, which felt like a rules loophole rather than a sensible way to approach rapid-firing enemies. Oh yeah here's a guy who can interrupt your turn to shoot multiple times per turn, you should all walk up to him and punch him and he'll politely submit to the beatings.

I really didn't like that compared to recent XCOM games, Phoenix Point added a micromanagement tracker for Weapon Durability, and bashing the return-fire-goons in the head damages your weapon! Also they brought back ammo management, so now your weapon has two stats that can run out during combat.

But I also recognize that these things aren't bugs or crashes or typos or other objectively wrong things about the game, they're design decisions that I disagree with. The game runs fine. I have a series of grumbles and no dealbreakers.

Moving on from the Return Fire-associated crap...

This is an XCOM-genre game, definitely. It has base building, squad management, research and production, capturing crab monsters for research, psychic mind control, a strategic "Geoscape" layer and numerous tactical battle missions. The one thing that's oddly missing is gear upgrades. New gear is mostly sidegrades and tactical options, on the other hand it offers far stronger character upgrades than in most XCOM games, to the point of looking partly like a CRPG with classes, levels and skill points.

The Geoscape has more content than the waiting game that was some previous xcoms. There are other factions moving on the map, there's some trade and diplomacy with them, there are unknown sites to explore, you reactivate old bases instead of building them from scratch. Sometimes this means clearing them of crab monsters.

The Phoenix Point interface inherits a lot of XCOM 2's cutscenery that I dislike. It is very beautiful, very zoomed in, and wants to make sure you see it. There's frequent waiting to watch stuff resolve, and the game insists on having the camera follow unimportant actions like the run animation of every soldier's every move, and locking the interface during this. Move orders (particularly out of sight of enemies) should not hog control, I should be able to tab to the next soldier and begin giving a new move order immediately after the previous! Each individual animation is short, but multiply it by several soldiers, on each of several turns, on each of several missions, and my frustration at an unresponsive interface accumulates.

The zoom-out is limited. Soldiers will frequently be so far away from each other that I can't see them on the same screen, and have to pan back and forth. Bleh.

The gun system is quite detailed with damage types, damage values, accuracy modifiers, weapon ranges, armor, armor-shredding weapons, body part targeting and hit location, disabled limbs, bleeding, cover, et cetera. The game then offers options to skip a lot of this gunnery where enemies get to resist, and instead go for special abilities that Just Work, like War Cry:

AOE, autohit, no save, renders most enemies unable to attack for a turn.

About that limbs stuff, Phoenix Point has tried hard to make hit locations relevant. Crab monsters have game-relevant organs and limbs that can be disabled for far less damage than it takes to kill the whole monster. It's neat, but feels a little underwhelming. I don't blame the devs much for this, balance is hard when there's hefty player optionality plus RNG, and there's a fine line between making targeting relevant and making a monster the Shootmeinthegland monster where shooting it in the gland simply becomes the new default target instead of shooting it in the head/center mass.

Guns are weak, and armor is powerful as part of making limb targeting relevant. Also, armor-shredding weapons. This feels related to the CRPG class-and-level stuff: with the smaller squad and the more personalized characters and the more important individuals, the game has to give more leeway for characters to survive being hit to avoid player frustration. We've moved a long way from X-COM:UFO where casualties were routine and replacements were cheap.

I don't know if it's good or bad that the game plays "fair" about the least relevant nameless NPCs being similarly padded, but I know one of my mutuals will hate this combination of health padding and detailed targeting:

I have caught this thief at close range (2 tiles). I am about to launch a six-round burst from my character's assault rifle into his head. The targeting reticle, the highlighted yellow outline, and the info popup all agree that these bullets will go into his head if I fire here and now. The segmented bar at the top indicates that the result of close-range burst fire to the head through the front of the face is that the thief will lose about half his hitpoints.

To underscore that I've gotten a head hit, not a glancing blow off the helmet, the game displays the thief with a bloody face and blood-splattered clothes after the shot. But he lives. Somehow.

There's also a plot to Phoenix Point. I don't play xcoms for the plot, but there's definitely been some work on the plot beyond "kill and loot aliums :)". After the second world war, blah blah secret organization, moonbase, something something precursor civilization. It looks like good lore, I'll re-read the accumulated notes when I have more notes and fewer darkly hinting clue-scraps bereft of context.

(update: part 2)

[lumenflowered]

[The video attached seems to begin where the previous one left off, albeit more zoomed in than before. It begins with Maria standing in a few inches of seawater, staring up at a god of the ocean. Lugia stares right back at her, clearly curious.

Neither speaks, for a time.

Lugia does first, though her mouth doesn't move. "You... so you have come, after all."

"You... were expecting... me?" Maria's words seem forced. Her hands are folded behind her back, out of Lugia's line of sight. They're shaking a little.

"I anticipated one with the blessing of Ho-oh," Lugia replies, speaking slowly, "or one who could have had mine. But that is now impossible, and instead... here you are."

"That is now..." Maria clears her throat. "Never mind that. Lugia, I... I come with a warning."

"Do you?" Lugia inclines his massive head towards her. "Is it yours, or is it theirs?"

"...Both." Maria inhales sharply. "There is a group of humans that... we strongly believe you may be in danger from."

"I see," says Lugia. "And what would you have me do?"

"Remain as... remain as deep beneath the ocean as you can, until the danger has passed. Until I have—until we have made it pass."

Though it's a little difficult to tell, with Maria's back to the camera, her body language seems to suggest that she is terrified and trying everything she can to suppress that. It's dubious how much it is working, considering the ocean god directly in front of her.

Lugia hums, considering this.

At last, she speaks once more, a single word: "No."

"...I'm afraid I... don't understand," Maria says shakily. "What do you mean by this?"

"I have seen many mortals come and go," Lugia replies. "What makes you think these are a threat to me?"

"They are a threat to Ho-oh, and they thought—"

"What threatens Ho-oh does not necessarily threaten me." Lugia flaps his massive wings, rises a little in the air—Maria takes several small steps back. "I have seen far more than they ever shall. I have humored you thus far, Chosen of Rebirth, but you are trying my patience."

"...I apologize for that," Maria says, though she isn't able to suppress a shudder. "How can I prove to you that they are a threat?"

"Considering," Lugia says, "that you are deeply afraid of me? I wonder if your own shadow wouldn't scare you."

"That—that isn't—this is not about me."

"Excuse me," calls Kuni the Kimono Girl. "If I may, there is very little that seems to scare her—"

"Yet I do?" Lugia seems unimpressed. "I have heard enough. Leave this place. All of you."

"You have to understand," Maria insists. "You have to understand that—I have seen terrible, terrible things done to a god not unlike you before. I-I cannot—not again—how can I make you understand?"

"You cannot. Leave this place, or I will make you."

"...Maria," Zuki calls uncertainly, from somewhere behind the camera, "I think it might be better to regroup—"

"No." Maria stands her ground. "Not when we are already this close. Lugia. You—you have to understand."

"Leave," says Lugia. With a flap of his massive wings, water from around them, below them, above them coalesces into what looks dangerously like an impending attack. "Or prove that you are not afraid of nothing."

With another mighty flap, the attack—a Hydro Pump—is shot toward Maria. She stands her ground.

But someone else, rushing forward into view of the camera—someone wearing mostly brown, but whose hair looks identical in shade to Maria's—tackles her to the ground, out of the way of the blast.

Something glitches, and the video... ends? It wasn't supposed to end there, was it?]

[aritamargarita]

ATTITUDE || 018

hey guys. so i decided to upload the regular installment instead, it would make more sense chronologically (when do i ever follow timeline though lmfao) since there’s one match in the Christmas episode that’s really important and it ain’t the eggnog match LMAOO

ik after last chapter being a complete mess we need a break. reader said she'll make lita scream but now they're chillin getting snacks smh... its like..."cant stand her fake ass!!" 10 minutes later: ME AND THE BESTIEEE

nellieee & rated: sweethearts readers. this one is for you..the girls that get it GET IT

to all my fellow jeff fans, this is a love letter from me to you. i hope you enjoy, i felt kinda eeerrrhhh this chapter but only cause i had to keep rereading it lol

THE SHOW’S OVER! You felt really, really hungry. Not for actual food, you wanted some junk food. It’s a candy extravanganza.

You took the liberty to ride with Lita, with you two leaving as early as possible in order to stock up on snacks. The both of you had that segment together so it was pretty easy for the both of you to meet up afterward.

She mentioned Matt left his camcorder in the car, so you picked it up and started to record. He may be pretty iffy on you, but you figured you may as well leave a gift for him.

Just because you can.

“Hello world!” After making extra sure that it was actually recording, you turn the camera towards yourself. “And hello Matt’s camera. I’m sorry for taking most of your film!” You then turn the camera towards Lita, zooming in slightly. “Your little girlfriend is driving.”

For a split second, Lita takes her eyes off the road and swats at you.

“Woah, woah, woah, focus on the road!” You complain. For someone who was so insistent on driving, she sure enjoyed trying to be a passenger. She’s been messing with you for this whoooleee ride. More than likely it was because of your Mapquest directions….

“We’re gonna stop for some snacks. Don’t Canadians have chocolate smarties??” You question.

“Pretty sure they do.” Lita nodded. “Trish mentioned it before.”

Oh shit! SHE IS CANADIAN!! You forgot! Now that you think about it, most of your coworkers were Canadian too.

The hotel wasn’t that far, but the detour you two were taking probably was going to make it a bit longer than that. Not that bad, you two were just getting back a little later tonight.

“I need my fix of candy,” You say, turning the camera over to the 7/11 sign that was now coming into view. “Something that’ll make my teeth fall out.”

“Then you can put them under your pillow for the tooth fairy.” Lita suggests. “I’m sure you’ll get a lot of money for it.”

“Yeah, right. If the tooth fairy was even real.”

There’s silence for a moment before Lita stops the car just as she’s about to park. “…The tooth fairy isn’t real?”

You look at her slowly. Did she really ask that? “No. No, the tooth fairy isn’t real.”

“Damn. I’ve been lied to my entire life.” She says, running a hand through her hair. She looks absolutely destroyed by this new information.

You’re just surprised she even thought the tooth fairy was real. “No one told you this entire time? Ma’am…y…”

“Listen, I need some time away to think about this.” Lita says dramatically. What, were you going to say that Santa Claus wasn’t real either?! You do believe in Santa, so she’s safe for now. “Grab what you want. I’ve gotta get gas, I’ll be in to fill my arms with as many snacks A-S-A-P.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” You wave your hand at her. “…Oh, shit, there’s a Subway here too. Is that Tim Horton’s? I haven’t had that in a while. Let’s grab—“

Lita shakes her head. “Nope. I’m in charge tonight, we’re going to IHOP. No ifs, ands, or buts. I printed out the directions! Look in the glove compartment.”

You pop it open and pull out folded paper. You look at her and she motions her hand towards it, making you unwrap it into it’s true form. A huge ass map with directions printed clear on the side.

Wow. She was serious.

“…Let me get out of here.” You open the door and get out of the car, tossing the map back into your seat.

Mission 7/11 was in full effect. Once you enter the convenience store, you look around. It was pretty empty. Maybe one or two cars were around. It’s only about 10 pm, so you wonder where everyone’s ran off to.

The bright lights of the store make you blink a few times. Damn, they turned the brightness UP. Your eyes had gotten used to the dark car. “Evening.” You greet the cashier at the counter.

He looks up from the magazine he was reading for a second. “Evening.” But then he does a double take. He couldn’t believe it. You’re [Name] from the WWF! “Holy shit—hey, excuse me?”

You’re about to walk into one of aisles, but you stop, turning over to the cashier. “Yeah?”

“Are you…” He pauses for a moment. “You’re [Name], right?? The wrestler.”

“I do!” You confirm with a nod. “You know me?”

“You’re literally my favorite wrestler.” He says. “I know there was a show tonight, my boyfriend’s been paging me like crazy! I got him to tape it for me since I’m working, but I don’t want him to spoil it.”

“You won’t get any outta me either.” You reassure with a smile. Your eyes look down to his name tag curiously. Jean-Pierre, huh?

“Well, wait….is Lita in it?” He asks, quickly caving in. It be like that sometimes. “I’ve gotta know. She’s my favorite too.”

Man, wouldn’t he be surprised. “Oh, she’s in it alright…...”

“What does that mean?! No, don’t tell me!” He shakes his head, looking away from you.

You’ve always enjoyed meeting fans. People who appreciate what you do in the ring was always pleasure.

…It gives you a idea, actually. You hold out a finger to him. “One second.” You hate to be one of those customers, but you had to! You wanted to take a picture with him. But he wouldn’t know until you check out, that is. It’s the least you could do!

Especially since Lita’s traveling with you. It just works, man. Speaking of that lady, where the hell did she go?? Gas does not take that long to pump. She’s crucial in this plan. You go back into the aisles, not only searching for cameras, but for Lita as well.

The place isn’t huge, per say, but it had a lot of items. There’s giftcards, magazines (is that a Raw magazine?), just about anything you could think of. It’s a convenience store, after all…

You totally got distracted for a minute looking at the Stacker 2 bottle. You really hope they give you a commercial for that, even if you don’t really use fat burners.

Finally finding a small aisle for miscellaneous items, you lean down to look at your options.

There’s only two FujiFilm cameras left on the shelf. You’re feeling greedy, so you just take both of them. Heading back up to the front, you place them on the counter. “Just these:”

He doesn’t exactly catch on quite yet, so he rings you out without a second thought. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

You weren’t exactly ready for the question he had next though.

“Jeff Hardy or Raven?”

It immediately makes you laugh. Whether it was out of nervousness or just the fact you found it hilarious, you truly didn’t know. “Can’t tell you. Who do you like with me better?”

“Gotta say…” He thinks about it for a moment after bagging your items. “Jeff Hardy. You two are really cute together.”

Huh….interesting. People really liked you and Jeff together, you couldn’t see it, but hey, an opinion is an opinion.

Lita finally comes in, waving at the cashier and shooting you finger guns. “Sorry. The pump wouldn’t take my card. I got it this time though.”

Somehow, the surprise was a bit ruined in your eyes. Jean-Pierre looked like his eyes would pop out of their sockets. Both of his favorite wrestlers were here!! He rubs his eyes, trying to wake up from this dream.

Holy shit, this is reality! He doesn’t even know what to say at first, completely starstruck. You take the opportunity to speak up for him, waving one of the cameras.

“…Want a picture?”

He sure as hell did, why was that even a question? The fact you two came to this location is amazing. It’s small, so it’s fairly easy to miss. This has gotta be the best shift he’s ever had.

“Wait, hold on, let me get snacks first.” Lita says, rushing into one of the aisles. You playfully roll your eyes and unbox the camera.

“We don’t need her! Let’s take a picture with just us two.”

You, Lita, and the young man at the register were chatting up a storm for quite a bit after checking out and taking pictures. You all talked about your favorite matches in history and things you felt inspired by.

All good things have to come to an end unfortunately. You both wave to him goodbye, letting him keep one of the cameras that had your photos on it. There’s twenty seven exposures in total, so he could use the rest however he pleases.

You’ll have to come again sometime, maybe when Raw or Smackdown is in town. Very convenient place too, you’d get Subway, but Lita forced you to go to IHOP. It’s like she has a gun to your head.

You’re behind the wheel, meanwhile Lita’s holding up the directions and reading out the directions to you. Every so often, she’d look out the window to make sure you were going the right direction.

No more mistakes. Tonight, Lita’s about to enjoy her time at the International House of Pancakes. She’s been waiting for this all week! “Okay, [Name], make a left here…” She’d guide you.

You could tell she’s excited. You don’t get why she’s so excited. You’re ordering a Belgian Waffle to spite her. To spite her and give an ode to RVD saying it’s the capital of Brussels. Bless him.

In little to no time, you pull up to the restaurant. Lita says it’s all thanks to her directions, but you pay her no mind.

You two get out of the car and head to the doors. You open one up and immediately try closing it quickly behind you, making Lita pull on the handle to try and open it again.

“Oh, you fucking—“ She curses, lightly hitting you in the back as soon as she gets in. You laugh as you walk towards the front counter.

Before you can ask for a table, Lita shakes her head and grabs your hand. “No need. I’ve already called it in.”

Huh. She was serious about this pancake situation. She must’ve called it in while she was outside or something. You go along with it, letting her drag you to one of the tables nearby a window.

…Wait, didn’t a hostess have to sit you down? You’re just about to question her when your eyes fall on two familiar people sitting in a booth.

It’s Matt…..and…..Jeff. Both of them were there. Matt didn’t seem too surprised, but Jeff on the other hand seemed shocked you were even here.

Lita lets go of your hand. “Wow! What a coincidence,” She says, putting her hands on her hips. “I had no clue you guys would be here tonight…”

You slowly look at Lita. There are no words to describe how irritated you were. It’s no wonder she merrily skipped past the desk and any hostesses. Does she think you’re stupid?

You want to leave. Seeing Jeff was starting to make you sick to your stomach.

“Are ya’….gonna sit?” Jeff suddenly asks, scooting over. It’s obvious he wants you next to him.

“…I guess.” You have no choice, so you sit down right next to him as Lita sits next to Matt.

Across from you, the two of them spare glances to each other, almost like they were communicating telepathically or something.

“We have to use the bathroom.” Lita announced, jumping out of her seat. She reaches over and grabs Matt to bring him out.

He nods with her. “Yeah. We’ll be back.” The two leave you and Jeff alone, but unbeknownst to you two, they weren’t too far away..

You hate them. They’re doing this on purpose. This must’ve been premeditated. You’re going to kill Lita and then yourself. Damn it.

“If you’re wondering, I’m not mad at ya’ or anything.” He says, setting his hand on the table.

Unable to look him in the eye, you turn your attention toward his hand.

He painted his nails…cute.

“I’m mad at Raven,” He continues. “He doesn’t deserve you. I think he’s just using you. I know we had something, [Name]. Don’t tell me it was nothing when we kissed.”

The more he talks, the more guilty you’re starting to feel. You’re not entirely sure what to say, either. Your mouth starts to feel uncomfortably dry as you look down under the table. “Did you get any water? Phew.”

“….” He doesn’t say anything at first, instead pushing his glass of water towards you. “Didn’t drink out of it. It’s all yours.”

You happily open a straw lying on the table and drink some.

“It would’ve gone further if my neck wasn’t hurting.” He admits. “It’s risky, but I just wanted you all to myself on that table.”

You look around as you sip your water. Thank goodness his voice was pretty quiet. He sounded tired and you couldn’t blame him. You’re starting to feel a little worn down from the show today, too.

Without you staring at him, he doesn’t think you’re taking him seriously. “Look at me, [Name]..”

You don’t.

Even as you can see him expectantly staring at you from the corner of your eye, you just decide to stare straight ahead.

And Jeff has already had enough. He takes his hand and decides to pull your face towards him. You’re taken aback by it.

He too, seems surprised that he’s even done it. “I…sorry. I just want ya’ to look at me…”

You’re conflicted. You don’t know whether you want to slap him down or just kiss him. Even if the latter made you feel guilty.

“I would say you’re my muse, darling.” The pet name makes you flinch. “I’ve..painted you at least 3 times now.”

“Three times?” You repeat. “Three times….when can I see these paintings?”

Three times is crazy to you. You’re hoping he isn’t too crazy for you right now, this is just a horrible time.

“I don’t have it with me right now. Maybe next time I see you.”

Boo…..

Jeff feels like he’s making progress with you. He feels like the luckiest man in the world because you haven’t shoved him away yet.

He feels even luckier when you don’t reject his advance. He takes your hand into his own, the two of you quickly interlocking fingers with one another.

You still think this was wrong. However, your heart was telling you otherwise. The moment he squeezes your hand is when you feel like Jeff’s the one you want right now.

“WE’RE BACK!” Lita announces, a smile on her face. Matt trails behind her, nodding to the both of you. The two slide right back into their seats and the waitress comes over just in time.

Lita seems to eye you and Jeff holding hands on the table, a smirk playing on her lips. You remind yourself to strangle her when you get the chance, though that time may come after Vengeance.

Even the trip back to the hotel was calm. Jeff wanted you to go with him instead. Lita almost pushes you towards him, eager for you two to actually be alone. She knows her and Matt were having issues, but she definitely wants you two to sort shit out.

She can tell that Jeff really likes you. He always has, just didn’t know how to go about it.

Hand in hand, you two make your way upstairs. “Are you scared for your match?” You suddenly ask, swinging your hand.

“Nah.” He shakes his head. “It is what it is. If Matt wants a challenge, then so be it. I just wish he didn’t bring Lita into it.”

You make a noise, signifying that you agree. Poor Lita, she’s in the midst of their rivalry.

“Hold on, my room is right here.” You start to pull out your keycard. “Are you coming in or you just wanted to walk me?”

“I can come in if ya’ want.”

The answer is absolutely. You do want him to come in. “Feel free.” You unlock the door and the both of you walk in together.

And now that Jeff’s here, you’re not entirely sure what to do. It’s a hotel room, not your house, so you didn’t have a lot to entertain him with.

“Wanna sit?” It’s a tentative offer, but truly this situation was getting more and more awkward by the second.

“Yeah.” He takes a seat on the bed, watching you as you pace around for a minute. Eventually, you come over to sit next to him.

“…[Name].” He calls. Jeff turns over to you and grabs your shoulders. “…Who do you see me as?” He asks. “Do you see me as less than Raven?”

“No, it’s just—“ He interrupts you by pulling you into a kiss. It’s almost like he wanted you to start talking just so he could cut you off.

You exhale through your nose once he parts away. He tasted like syrup, hehe.

Jeff kisses you again, but this time changes direction and makes his way down towards your neck. It makes you laugh. “What’s funny?”

“Nothing.” You replied. You just can’t believe how you got in this situation. “Hold on, hold on,” you say.

“…I’m going to be honest, [Name]. You’re making me nervous.” He admits. “I feel like my legs are gonna give out if I stand up.”

You’re about to pass out yourself. “I’m not feeling any be—“

And then, the phone’s ringing. It just takes you out of the moment. You groan. No way you just got the ick from the phone. Problem is, neither of you want to stop the direction it’s heading.

You crawl over the bed towards the nightstand. Whoever’s calling sucks.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Nitro Girl.” Hunter greets, his voice as chipper as ever. “Been a while.”

Goddamn it. OUT OF ALL TIMES HE COULD GIVE YOU A CALL..

“This isn’t a good time.” You say, letting out a huff of air. “If it’s important, make it quick.”

“Didn’t know you were the type to rush things. Whatever you say. Listen, I’ll cut to the chase. That lingerie I gave you. I need you to use that and bring Jericho to a hotel room. I’m gonna ambush him.”

Because Jeff was still there, trying to catch his breath as much as you were, you do your best to keep things as vague as possible. “Are you seriously gonna do that?”

“Yeah. Everyone will go crazy over it. Just think of it as a hookup. You won’t have to try and seduce Jericho after this again. I’ll even let you hit him once.”

“I knew it wasn’t just some gift out of the blue. The fact you never explained was confusing.”

“Didn’t have time. Steph’s been hassling me all week. She’s really excited for me to come back. Honestly, I feel like I’m ready to go.”

“Right. Excited to…” You think for a second how to phrase it. “—see you again. Have a good night.”

“Wow, it’s almost like you REALLY don’t want to talk to me.”

You sigh. “It’s really not the best time.”

“Then I’ll call you tomorrow night. Goodnight.”

“Night.” You hang up the phone and turn to Jeff with an apologetic look on your face.

“Who’s that?” He asks, scooting back and laying down. You decide to join him, laying right next to him and staring up at the ceiling.

“Old friend of mine.” You lied. “…Wanna stay the night?”

Better luck next time…

ITS DONE PLEASE DONT KILL ME PLEAAAASESSD. VENGEANCE IS NEXT BUT I NEED TO FIX CERTAIN PARTS OF THE MATCH!!!! and other matches. because reader is coming to fuck with everyones match YEAH!

[msmargaretmurry]

i’ve been on transit all day and have been marinating my blorbos (haw!matthew and leon) and just in case you’re still answering asks: how does matthew react to leon’s true lovey-dovey affectionate self once they’re a bit more settled and emotions aren’t running as high anymore? does he bite leon if he tries to slow dance with matthew in front of their friends? does he get bashful about it? does he love it? thank you so much i hope you have a great day

i am always answering asks for you, my friend!! and oh, he loves it, but it takes him ages to get used to it. matthew is an affectionate guy, too, once he gets past his traumas and agonies. he's definitely more conservative about pda than leon, but not opposed to it; he's probably never going to be a big fan of it in public public, but amongst friends and family he just needs time to get used to it. there is a pretty long stretch where he gets embarrassed and sheepish about it (and maybe bites leon once or twice 😂) but, like, he wants that kind of affectionate relationship. like with everything else, it's mostly just a question of letting himself have it. leon is pretty understanding about it -- he mostly gets that if matthew squirms away it's not personal. they have a couple of small tiffs about it (the first few times they hang out with friends who know they're together, matthew is super jumpy about leon touching him -- in front of people?? people who care about them and know they love each other?? mortifying!) but since they've learned how to use their words now it never blows up into a huge thing.

the thing that's hardest for matthew is figuring out how to act with leon in front of his family, because obviously they're the most important to him, and he's so nervous about how his relationship with leon will look to them and fit into their lives. it takes him forever to get comfortable being affectionate with leon in front of them, even when all the other tkachuks are like, buddy, please, it's FINE. and leon gets this part, he really does, he lets matthew call all the shots on the touching front when they're around keith and chantal. deep in the gdocs somewhere i have a snippet of a scene that's set, like, six or seven years in the future, where matthew is facetiming with brady and he still turns the phone away when leon gets home and comes to give him a kiss hello, even though it's very obvious that he's getting kissed hello and brady has known for years that they're together.

a while back on twitter i was doing one of those "give me a pairing and a one-word prompt and i'll write a little snippet" writing games and someone gave me matthew/leon + "photo" -- i wrote this tiny soft scene set after the first time leon comes to visit matthew and his family in the summer, and i am feeling self-indulgent this morning so please enjoy:

Matthew is over at his parents' house for one last big family dinner before Taryn heads back to Charlottesville for the fall when Taryn corners him in the foyer and presses the photo into his hands.

"I took this when Leon was here. I thought you might want it," she says. "Don't be mad at me."

It's a picture clearly taken from inside the house, looking out at the back porch. There's no zoom on Taryn's Polaroid camera, which has been getting a workout as she tries to get enough good shots to fill her dorm room walls, so Matthew and Leon are slightly distant and a little blurry, but still recognizable. They're leaning on the railing, bare-footed, close together, their backs to the camera. Matthew, then, is pressing a kiss to Leon's shoulder. Now, Matthew's heart turns over with a kind of weird, happy longing.

"Why would I be mad at you?" he asks.

"Because you're super weird about PDA," Taryn says. "I wasn't spying or anything. The window was literally wide open."

"Yeah, no, it's fine," Matthew says, still looking at the picture. It was only a few weeks ago, but it feels way too far away already. He lifts his arm, and Taryn tucks herself under it, squeezing him around the waist. Matthew kisses the top of her head. "Thank you."

He texts Leon a picture of the photo later. Gift from Taryn, he types along with it.

Cute, Leon texts back. Then, Missing that

Missing you, Matthew texts. Sure you don't want a 2nd missouri vacation this summer?

Next summer were doing mallorca or something, Leon says, but just a few seconds later, Tell me whens good and ill buy a ticket.

[telephoney]

i think these songs wld make cool escaped animatics... i think about these all the time here are my ideas that i don't know how to animate and probably neva will

kinda long post so i hopefully stop thinking about it 💀 help me

mgfl, rival slasher villains, chronus seven, neon series and new jersey rats... spoilers below cut probably

pink = lyric / blue = timestamp

↑ mgfl - this one wld be really short the end bit at 1:52 where it's like "you should be down in hollywood" ya... head in hands dennys and ash have like an anime moment where they're standing far from each other and when the guitar and drums builds up from 2:39 they're running towards each other idk

↑ rival slasher villains - from 1:20 to the end starting "wonder when my life will change"

think itd be cool to go a little meta and start w escaped at his computer and then after "every actor in la" it zooms into his computer and the "don't be bitten twice" bit is just. slash and bash killing montage yaaa and the glitch parts show their face behind their masks for a couple frames

and then the pause with the voice bit with the girl saying "fuck! oh, i hate this fucking place!" is candy looking at her computer at the cameras when slash and bash discover her hiding spot

and then they like kill her and violence montage again and then the end bit with the really loud "don't be bitten twice" is like a little jumpscare of bash yas

i also like how it ends w "fucking murderer" v fitting lol maybe zooms back out of computer to escaped

↑ chronus seven - i know the song choice is kind of weird and idk if this is chronologically correct but the first bit up to 1:41 would be the car fight / chase

when the music goes quiet it feels like they'd be in that weird realm w the post human thingies (girl i don't remember any of the fancy words from chronus seven allow me 😭)

in the glitchy faint screaming parts could have shots of the post human thingies lurking in the shadows

and then when the screaming starts they get chased by a post human monster thingy and then it stops at 2:36 cause i lowkey dont like the end

↑ neon series - whole song feels like raven mourning crow

no real structure just feel like the lyrics "oh hunter if you didnt want the beautiful so badly"... the hunter being crow duh and the beautiful being raven

honestly i feel like this song fits a lot of escaped characters 💀 a testament to the angst cocaine he puts in his writing i guess

↑ new jersey rats - i love new joisey and i love this song!!! would make a really great loop with slight background / detail changes

starts with jean and intern meeting and each repeat of the chorus is just the story progressing i suppose with relevant scenes to lyrics i don't just wanna list every lyric so here are a few 😭

"pressure, poets, priceless smiles, cutting edge entertainment / foolish antics, antique evenings, fragile, frugal, breaking even"

i feel like all of these could correspond / cut to different characters (like foolish antics = bada brothers and breaking even = stressed out jean)

neeeed the "ugh" to be jean with his head against his desk surrounded by papers

could also be about stacy instead of intern OR both .. like he's starstruck with both like "you're the looker, liquor sugar" for stacy and "im the rotten apple of your eye" for intern

uh yea that's it

feel free to . do whatever with any of this if it inspired you cause genuinely nothing is coming out of this for me just pain and delusion

thanks for watching don't forget to like and subscri

[klysanderelias]

I feel like (I'm done with episode 6 of HxH so far) there's the traditional shounen bullshit that can be upsetting (the treatment of fat characters, the way that women aren't really taken seriously and often used as jokes, etc etc) but I really appreciate something that has bothered me a lot in other anime -

Hunter x Hunter has very realistic results of violence even when it's a little cartoonish, and it feels like they're being very thoughtful about deploying that, and about remembering that.

I watched some of Ranma 1/2 a few years ago and I couldn't stomach how the show handled its violence. It was extremely over the top in the traditional hammerspace 'woman enacting huge damage on her harassers' style, but then would continue on to show the character in question laid up in bed covered in bandages unable to walk, and then turn around AGAIN to make THAT into a joke. It was distasteful to me that the show wanted to have excessive violence be explicitly canon within the world, unlike a lot of shows where a character gets conked on the head with a giant mallet and then immediately gets up without any lasting harm, but also that the show thought it was funny that characters were being actually genuinely harmed (and of course it never lasted past the scene anyway so it felt very grotesque to me).

And that's not really something I care to argue about, that's kind of a thing of taste and expectation to a certain extent, but in HxH I've found that there are scenes where characters are exposed to hyperviolence, and the cartoonish nature of the show instead feels stripped away a little.

Like, in episode 5, Leorio gets uppercutted and Gon is basically being choked out by another character, and the camera kind of zooms in on his face as he's struggling to breathe and then he kind of starts to go slack, and the character choking him hastily drops him almost in a 'oh shit I've gone too far' kind of way. And it's partially really compelling to me because you remember oh yeah, this kid is like 12, in a squid games situation, but also because the show up until this point has not really taken the deaths of unnamed background characters seriously, so it almost feels like the camera is giving you the main characters' perspectives - they don't know these other people, they don't care, maybe they just don't notice or they think 'well we all agreed to take the risks' but when the protagonist is getting choked out the stakes are suddenly very real.

And also in that same moment, when Leorio gets punched, it feels like a traditional shounen punch, but then he's rocking that swollen cheek for the rest of that episode and the entire next one (maybe longer, I didn't keep watching). And I really like that, again partially because it's a realistic consequence of violence, but also it's almost like a 'damage in cutscenes is canon' video game moment where your character takes a hit and it changes the model for the rest of the game, where it's supposed to be (assuming the moment lands) a reminder of the actual risks you're taking, and the consequences of failure that you're trying to avoid. I can only think of Bioshock infinite where booker gets stabbed in the hand, and I'm certain there are far better moments and far better games to reference, but y'know, it's past my bedtime anyway.

But yeah episodes 4-6 were fun, 6 was the least fun given how they portrayed uhhhhh menchi and uhhhhhhhh bahara? Buhara. Definitely the weakest of the episodes, but I think there were still some fun moments in there.

[homestuck-for-the-first-time]

lvl 247

so hmph

i'm up to page 247, and wow this is very, specific kinds of weird. im impressed. lets take a look at everything so far.

the LORE

this little fella is cute. it's his birthday and look at him go! if i understood the plot correctly this sort of takes place in a weird alternate video-game esque 2000's. i'm guessing he's like 13? must protect at all costs.

the humour is also,,, interesting. i genuinely cannot pinpoint exactly what this all means. i cannot predict it. it's like im a dream -like state.

for instance. when the camera zooms out and reveals a vast empty city with nobody around i thought this became existential horror.

and some pages later, they all just fucking die?

what the fuck???

if someone asked me, after reading 247 pages of the comic, what was it about, i'd tell them oh god help me where am i. matpat would not survive this.

the creatures

there are two dorks so far. i love them. there's

he's so cute i wanna squish him to death

JOHN EGBERT and his hiperfixation on ODDLY-SPECIFIC FILMS is charming but i feel like i'm missing so much context. should i watch them to catch up with homestuck lore?

oh and her

she is concerning

she's so quirky. her love for OBSCURE LITERATURE and ELEVATED LEXICON, plus eveything else? is she on tumblr dot com?

i wonder what else is she up to, along the other pesterchums on the web.

coding sillies

ah yes. i love code™. no but really, i'm on my last year of compsci. i am old. but these cute little gags remind me of starting out to self learn data structures and general syntax.

pfft, do you even hashmap bro? wdym u don't have logarithmic time complexity?

that's what you get for not using b+ trees.

this whole comic was definitively made by a dorky nerd, and that's sick. i wonder what they're up to now...

closing thoughts

rose's mom is definitively queen from deltarune. also, i need some rest. this comic is definitively something. tune in for more

[slashingdisneypasta]

(May I join T or D game? 🦊)

1) I'll eat the whole thing in one bite and risk a brainfreeze! Then I'll look him straight in the eyes as I snap the stick in half! Hopefully he'll get the message...

2) If I brought a boy home then he must be a very good friend! I wouldn't bring just anyone home! I'll find someone else for Jenn (seems like a good way to get rid of some creep/douche/sleezebag lol)

3) Bubba better sit his ass down and go nowhere near that thing! I'll handle the feeding!

4) Are noise conceling headphones an opinion?! Or playing music on speakers so loud I don't hear my own thoughts?! If not, I'll shut him up myself! He'll feel the rage of an s*x-repulsed asexual who didn't get a good night sleep in weeks! I will put a fear of God into him (even if he's not religious)! *Angry tired ace noises*

5) I'm pretty small and skinny so I could probably slip between Jason and Michael with them barely noticing me! Or I'm sure Jason would be polite enough to step aside for a second if I ask nicely, his mother did raised him right after all! There's no point in asking Michael, he'll either just continue to stare or even attempt to stab me, so no thank you!

6) Call me crazy but BJ! I'm not familiar enough with Drayton. Besides, my special talent is being able to ignore someone completaly no matter what they do! He'll be wondering if he's invisible again 😈

7) *runs into the kitchen at lighting speed, grabs the snacks and runs out*

8) I'll do my best to try calm Carrie down! I'm pretty sure she's more scared then I am! Such powers can be overwhelming and it's not her fault if she still sometimes can't control them! (If I fail, I'd like INK and Aurelio Voltaire to play at my funeral)

9) (I picked the Slasher before I saw the list) So now Jason is fighting Pennywise! Damn!! I wonder how that would end?!

10) There's absolutely NO WAY I'm getting any help from Freddy! I'll admit what I did to Pam! It was a honest mistake and hopefully she'll understand. Ofc I'll clean all the mess and pay to fix/replace if anything is broken

11) I'll choose truth! I'm super honest (sometimes too much) and don't mind any question they throw at me!

12) I like Jerry's style more, so I'll pick him! He better not mess it up though, or Elijah will be hearing about it!

13) The Clown does not scare me at all! I think the idea is hillarious and choose opinion B *evil laughter* I have camera ready 🎥 ʘ⁠‿⁠ʘ

You can always join, Fox Anon!! Hey! ^^

Omggggggg, I love your answers so so much XDD

Omg, I think he's got it!!! XDDD

You make a VERY good point... And they're going to a better place anyway XDD Jen's stomach.

You're so brave!! But yes lets protect the Bubba XD

Get him, Fox anon!! I've got your back. From way back here, far far away from Patrick... I've got your back... but I've got it!!

Y'all have so much faith in the manners of a man who's forte is just flingin' people out of his damn way

6. Oh!! You took that class too?? XD Haha. Omg XD I love the little devil emoji you put at the end, too, so funny XDD

7. XDDDDDDDD Zoom

8. I've got you.

9. Oooh, I dunno- but I hope Jason wins!

10. Good news! That was a test- and you passed. Pamela likes you and you may befriend Jason XD ^^

11. Hey, at least people know where they stand with you! I love honest people!

Hmmmmm, here's your truth from Billy and Stu: If you had the choice to leave this universe and jump into the A Nightmare On Elm Street universe... and you got to be a dream demon with all that power, as well... but you had to spend your eternity with Freddy- would you go?

12. Oooh, do you mean the original version?? He does have good style. The red scarf?? Perfect accessorization XD Which Chucky then copied.

OOF, Jerry better do his best then!

13. Ohhhhhhhhhhh this one made me cackle XDD Freddy's is going to DIE, man!!

Thank you for playing and sharing your answers!! They're great!! XD

[aeriscallanga]

hey can I ask since u were so high up were others standing in ur block for the concert? ive got the highest tickets possible for another group due to the others being sold out too fast so i thought well at least im going to this idol groups concert but i wasnt sure what the view would be like, whether we would even be allowed to stand up at all or not lmao tbh i would probably be sitting anyway but having seen ur photo i think it will be awesome.

oh and what was the prices of the merch if u got any? thanks very much!

Hello! Actually my seat in ZB1 Timeless World was at General Admission 520B Row A Seat 13, even though it look so near in person, the sight there is pretty far that I have to zoom in my camera to see them up close, and I mostly look at the LED screens instead.

You can refer to this video on TikTok for reference

Though the video showed Gen Ad 520A, it's pretty similar to my seat even they're in different sides. The whole Gen Ad section is seated, but feel free to stand up whenever you want to lmao!

For the merch, I have no idea it will vary depending on the concert organizer, though mine ranges from 750-3K Philippine pesos. The viewing from the seats will vary depending on the venue, and the merch prices will vary depending on the concert organizer. Thank you so much!

[thepavementsings-archive]

oh man, i’m dying to hear your thoughts on pierre’s styria interview

Ok yes THANK YOU and thank you to the anon who asked me for my dissertation I am but a humble student in pierre studies. Here’s my post (Pierre Post)  under the cut on this Pierre quote on the Styria incident. I'm literally going to break this down moment by moment I'm sorry but I'm not.

This whole thing starts at 17:02 of the video. First of all this is a larger interview with fans where they're doing that zoom thing where people ask a bunch of questions and the first thing is the TONE SHIFT. When the fan starts to ask the question they start with "all your fans were disappointed with what happened last week" and his face goes immediately from open jovial Pierre to the face he does when he has to talk about something that he isn't happy about. Pierre girls know the one - he licks and then purses his lips, you can see his jaw shift. Like he knows what's coming. One thing about Pierre is he is NOT good at hiding his emotions. When something happens, you can read it on his face. He's nodding, but looks AWAY from the camera that's filming him AND the camera the fans are on and braces himself for the answer which

17:15 he STARTS with a bitchy little joke "yeah I was really sad to end 15 year of friendship, he's no more my friend" and this cat like grin afterwards. This is how he gets through to the honest bit that comes later! He's joking, but there's a little bit of heat to it. It's that flare of anger and self-righteousness that always comes out in him when situations go wrong. He can never quite stamp that down. But it's ALSO a firm plant on his stance right away. He knows people want juicy details and tension from this, it's his friendly and sly way of saying "you think you know things and I see what you're doing here but let's be clear, you don't". He's done similar things before (the "you guys liked that one" line about the Lando incident comes to mind); he needs people to know that HE knows there's a storyline. Narrative power means a lot to him. That joke is PROTECTIVENESS for himself and for his relationship with Charles, AND an outlet/a direction for that frustration to go before he

17:23 really gets into the thick of it and look. One thing about Pierre is that I think the *journey* he has been on since 2019 has made him more outwardly and purposefully reflective. One of his biggest character flaws (he is perfect no one else is allowed to say this or I'll kill you) is that he is very in his own specific perceptions of things, and struggles to see outside that narrative. But now, because of *waves hand* everything there's concerted effort for him to be more self-reflective. And in this response in particular, he's HONEST about this in a way that he isn't always. For him it usually tends to be a search for answers and understanding and solutions and REASONS, and he does that a bit here (that's his process), but this is about his EMOTIONS and experience. It's DIFFERENT. Why?

17:40 Because it's Charles. It's about the HISTORY. It's about RESPECT. Charles coming to see him after the race! Pierre not being ready to accept that apology yet! Because he has his process and that has to happen for himself and not for Charles. THIS Pierre - backwards cap leader of Alpha Tauri 2021 Pierre - handles it all better than I think he could have in any other year prior because he let's himself be a little selfish. Knows what he needs and draws those firm boundaries, and Charles will let him. And that's KEY because

17:50 "we knew before last Sunday nothing had ever happened between us on a racetrack and we knew one day it would happen" it's about the KNOWING SOMEONE SO DEEPLY. Ils se connaissent par coeurs!! And NOT to wedge my Pierresteban lore into this but actually I WILL because that fell apart in a lot of ways (as far as we can understand) when things became tense between them ON track and they lost respect for each other OFF the track as a result because they couldn't admit to each other that they were wrong. Which is why CHARLES GOING TO PIERRE AFTER THE RACE MATTERS. It's about keeping that line of communication open, establishing and reaffirming that level of respect, even if he knows Pierre doesn't want to hear it in the moment. He reiterates this point that they knew it would happen in other interviews. Clearly they've talked about it. Because it MATTERS to Pierre that they do this the right way this time. Because.

18:15 "It's painful. It's racing." As you all probably know this line lives RENT FUCKING FREE in my brain. Because that's what it's about right? This sport for them is this insatiable quest for glory and in that, it happens sometimes. But Pierre and Charles matter to each other outside of racing. It's about knowing this can happen, CARING enough to know what it means for each of them, and doing what each other need in order to move on from it.

This whole interview, and Styria in general is a perfect example of how Pierre has learned to manage™️. He HAS to feel and wallow in that sense of victimhood for a minute, bathe in the fact that he was wronged. Let himself be pissed off, and feel justified in that. But he also has had to learn how to not let that fester in unproductive ways! To let himself FEEL things and let that be okay. That's Pierre's journey for himself.

He compartmentalizes so much (my therapized child king that's a whole other asks) and the place Charles fits in his life CHALLENGES all the mechanisms he's built to compartmentalize. It's about HISTORY and MEANING and how Charles in many ways for many people can be encapsulating of many things but ESPECIALLY for Pierre. And they know this. They've KNOWN this. And that's why he can say "we're fine" and laugh and know its true. It is fine. They try and they make sure that it's fine. Cause that's who they are to each other. Because they're Charles and Pierre :)

[elindae-writes]

Megatron would probs end up causing some big controversy during one of his rants or he gets cancelled on twitter for attacking a city or sumn and he has to make a youtuber apology video

He would try to get cancelled. This guy has been getting cancelled his entire life. Megatron would cackle in glee upon seeing his name trending.

A very stressed Soundwave would then tell Megatron to try and "make amends with his new subjects." Megatron would agree and make the worst apology video in existence.

Megatron is sitting cross-legged on the floor on a fluffy carpet in the room of a suburban house. No, the Nemesis does not have any carpet anywhere in it (except the Home Depot carpet samples Laserbeak likes to play with). Yes, Megatron seized control of someone's home in order to film an apology video in some teen girl's bedroom. He felt that filming it somewhere with fairy lights, white carpet, and mandala tapestries would make it "more authentic." It just makes it less convincing.

The authorities show up outside this captured suburban house. Oh, and the Autobots. I almost forgot about them. The red and blue flashes of cop lights are seen flashing in the room.

Megatron sniffles. "knock out please shut the curtains, we need the lighting to be just right for this video."

curtain clattering noises

Then, seconds later:

"KNOCK OUT STOP POSING IN THE WINDOW"

The camerawork is awful. We at first just get a look at Megatron's crossed knees. He then grabs the camera with both talons and tilts it up as the focus rapidly goes in and out. He's genuinely awful with cameras so it requires no effort to produce camerawork this poor. It's one of those early 2000s cameras your mom would film you opening Christmas presents with. Soundwave is struggling to resist the urge to take control of the camera and is doing deep breathing exercises.

There are splashing noises outside. Laserbeak is playing in the pool.

Megatron then zooms in too much and gives everybody a far too close look at his forehead. Since he's made of metal his forehead is shiny and you can see Soundwave and Starscream behind the camera in the reflection. Soundwave has his faceplate held in his servos. Starscream is poking the color-changing fairy lights. He... kind of likes them.

"i am sorry i attacked the eastern seaboard," Megatron says with a wheeze before then breaking out into a coughing fit. "and the western one," Megatron adds. "also the southern one."

Starscream's voice is heard from the background. "What 'southern seaboard'?!"

"i attacked some country's south coast. not sure which one. but i am sorry for that one too."

Optimus's voice is heard booming outside. "MEGATRON. STOP THIS TYRANNY AND LET THE HUMANS AND THEIR HOUSE GO."

"my haters are outside."

Megatron begins crying fake tears. He can't produce them naturally because he's a severely dehydrated son of a bitch. Breakdown is offscreen spritzing him with a spray bottle in the hopes it will produce a convincing fake tear effect.

Megatron then grabs the camera with both talons, shoots up to his pedes, and then angrily point at the camera as he does a 180:

"FALSE. I regret nothing. It's not my fault you charlatans can't build cities that can't handle me taking a leisurely stroll through them!"

Megatron accidentally destroyed a Wal-Mart when he got high on dark energon and walked through it. This is somehow Wal-Mart's fault.

Optimus rips the wall down, barges in, and the next ten minutes of the video is them fighting each other. Soundwave grabs the camera and the camerawork is actually really good!

Starscream flies off with bundles of fairy lights attached to his wings. They're still changing colors.

[baronetcoins]

i'd like a snippet/link for "this au turducken has gotten out of hand"

oh ok this bad boy deserves some Context: Me and some friends (@kangoo and @kingstealer) have a destiny ocverse that has enough of it's own lore to be a separate spin-off property at this point, including Kangoo and I's dearly treasured AU, It Takes A Village (ITAV for short). ITAV takes two canon characters (Drifter and Shin Malphur) and a handful of our OCs (My Thyme, Sable, and Shrike, Kangoo's Occam mostly) and says "what if the five dysfunctional adults shared an apartment and together tried to raise a child (Shrike) with strange psychic powers". The au turducken part of this would be we went "what if ITAV had a magical girl au". They're all bird themed, because of course they are.

Anyway I couldn't pick just one part of this block for a snippet so have a long excerpt from the one scene I actually wrote for this incredibly self-indulgent au

When the camera caught them, it zoomed in on the group pulling themselves out of the wreckage. No civilian bodies, thank god—the evacuation efforts had been successful, but they were battered and bruised. Guardian Magpie was supporting Osprey on his shoulders, and Swan was holding onto a wound on their side, but they would heal soon. Jay pulled on Swallow’s cape a little pathetically, and made an up gesture. 

Swallow immediately snapped over to look her up and down. “You hurt?” She signed, scanning for the signs of injury. Healing factor might make them harder to kill, but it didn’t get rid of the pain.

Jay shook her head. “My feet hurt. The heels are killing me.” 

Right. Just because she’d done her time in character shoes didn’t mean everyone else was used to moving in heels. Swallow grimaced in sympathy and went to sweep her up, bridal-style. 

Magpie caught her eye and made a gesture. “Press to your 6,” he mouthed. She adjusted her grip on Jay and turned to watch the news anchor in a windbreaker and remarkably practical shoes picking her way over the rubble gunning straight towards them, with a camera operator not far behind. 

“Game faces.” Osprey whispered. “They aren’t friendly.” 

Swallow’s eyes caught on a moment after. The logo emblazoned on the front of the windbreaker was that of the local far right radio commentator. Internally, she scowled. Externally, she plastered on her best impression of the stoic yet positive hero.The ‘reporter’ flagged them down when she got close enough. She waved a microphone at them. 

“Guardians! I’m Maggie Webber, with the Ely Evans show. What would you say in response to the people who are worried about how you behave yourselves in public? What kind of example are you setting for the children who look up at you when you act like—” She waved a hand at Jay, curled up in Swallow’s arms. “—this?”

Swallow felt her own arms tense as Jay pressed her face further into her chest. She dropped the expression.

“The right one.” 

Webber took a half step back before recovering. “But Guardian Sparrow! Surely you understand people’s concerns with you shoving your lifestyles in the faces of the populace! As public symbols—”

“We just saved your life with the power of love. Are you really going to care who it’s for?” Thyme pressed in, using the height advantage granted by the rubble for all it was worth. “Now excuse us. I need to take care of my girlfriend.”

[simgerale]

Mirandaaaaa! Hi!! Okay, I figured this was worth sending an ask, since it's easier to reply, and since someone else might benefit, but: Teach me your ways!! Your screenshots are all gorgeous, and the angles all make so much sense for the pics?? Like the shot of Maggie and Luca framed by the archway?? *mwah* I feel like all my screenshots are boring as hell. Well, the indoor ones at least. (Not to mention god-awful lighting... *sigh*) How the heck do yours turn out so good??? That is all. ~ Love Morri. (idk if this makes any sense at all, but I am in a rambling mood today, aparently, and also suddenly dedicated to learning cinematography of simblr.)

*cracks knuckles* time to overexplain something really simple because idk how else to do it hasudncehcneadc

WHAT SCENE IS THIS REFERENCING?

WHAT DID IT LOOK LIKE BEFORE?

WHAT DIDN'T MAKE THE CUT?

as can see, reshade did most of the work for me (especially the blur!!!) i take advantage of that for sure. i think a lot of photos look the best when there's an obvious foreground (the arch) and a background (the throne room)! i took the latter photo in case i wanted to show them and blur the rest of the room, but when you compare, it makes most sense to blur everything no??

STILL, how did i come up with this angle? i think i reference a lot of media without knowing it. this kind of archway shot is popular in movies and shows!! it's dramatic and really says something deeper than the fact it looks pretty. do you HAVE to think deeply about this? NO i'm just extra and really into metaphors lol i thought this angle was good because it showed how alone they were amidst the large space they were in, which made this moment even more private for the love-birds-who-still-haven't-confessed (^;

WHAT EDITS DO I DO TO MAKE IT LOOK BETTER?

you mention bad lighting, and let me tell you... the Sisters' Castle is no stranger to that problem. i had to place those small ceiling lights EVERYWHERE until it looked decent, as well as change the light shade to that almost-white yellow. and still, i have to brighten my photos quite a lot! i even added fake light beams from the windows... not my best work but it ~adds~

HOW TO GET AROUND BORING ANGLES?

think MOVIE!!! think cinema... this is you from now on:

you gotta think to yourself as if YOU are the audience. where does the camera go to make you feel like you're apart of the scene? do close-ups amplify the emotions? would far-away shots make you grasp the situation better (i.e. "oh they're in a beautiful field!! how romantic!!" or in my case "oh they're in the throne room alone...")?

my favorite shot is honestly putting the camera behind something that will be in the foreground, unblurred while the rest of the photo IS blurred... like a plant, statue, wall, even another person. i use this A LOT lol

it kind of creates the sense that YOU as the reader/viewer is in the foreground, which makes sense if the foreground is a person. i wanted people to feel like they were in maggie's and/or olette's shoes and viewing it from their perspective, so they were often the focus (as you can see in the ones above). sometimes, though, it's to highlight whatever is being discussed! for example, in the photo below, they were talking about the late princess so her painting was the focus and maggie was blurred in the foreground instead!

which makes sense don't cha think? since we aren't just writing a book, subjects have to be visually displayed as well! it's pretty cool and i think that's why i like simblr so much lol

TIPS AND TRICKS?

move that camera around like crazy!!!!! go all the way to the ceiling and look down, go all the way to the ground and look up!! zoom in really close, zoom out really far, play with what's being blurred! if you find an angle that you love but the background is BLAH, then either blur it or redecorate it! i love the castle because i just had to throw ivy everywhere to really make things pop (^:

LAST BUT NOT LEAST:

for everyone reading this: you've got a whole community to inspire and help you, so don't be afraid to try something someone else did! have fun with it!! (^:

[twh-news]

'Loki' Star Sophia Di Martino on the Season 1 Finale, Working With Jonathan Majors and What She Knows About Season 2

[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 1 finale of Loki, "For All Time. Always."]

Since her introduction at the end of Episode 2, Sophia Di Martino's depiction of Sylvie, the female variant of Loki introduced midway through her campaign of vengeance against the TVA, has been a defining aspect of Disney+'s Loki. And, as we learned in the season finale, the story of Loki isn't over yet — though what's in store is pretty nebulous, following Sylvie's betrayal of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) after what was their first and what might be their last kiss.

In a one-on-one conversation with Di Martino via Zoom, Collider asked about working with Jonathan Majors in his MCU debut, what it was like having both fight scenes and more romantic scenes with Hiddleston, and of course what the conversations around Season 2 have been like.

Collider: To start off, when did you have a sense that there would be a second season of Loki?

DI MARTINO: I mean, there'd been rumors for a while, but I still haven't heard officially if it's happening, like officially, officially. I only know what I know through reading the news. And I know, because you guys know, because of the tag at the end of Episode 6.

I was going to say, that feels like a pretty official thing, but it doesn't sound like anyone has shown up at your doorstep with paperwork.

DI MARTINO: No, nothing. Nothing like that.

Now, does that mean that when you watched it, were you given a full script of the sixth episode?

DI MARTINO: Yes. We got one episode at a time. So I wasn't given Episode 6 until like midway through shooting Episode 5.

So in that situation, what was your initial reaction to reading, especially like the last, say, 10 pages or so.

DI MARTINO: Just like, holy crap. This is massive. How exciting. Woof. And then also, "who's going to play He Who Remains, I need to know because it's such an amazing part and such incredible speeches he has. I wanted to imagine who would play him, but I couldn't have ever imagined the way Jonathan would have done it. So brilliant.

In terms of working with Jonathon Majors, what was that experience like? Just because I feel like he brought such a different energy to the role than I think anyone would have ever expected.

DI MARTINO: Yeah. He just exploded onto that set with so much energy and nothing like we could ever have imagined. It was a lot of fun and he was brilliant. You know, people were saying this is going to be something really special, whispering behind the camera. He was so eccentric and fun and kind of terrifying. Very easy for Tom and I to just sit and listen to him for a few days. Very entertaining.

Yeah. In rewatching the episode, it's still so striking to me the way that, after Sylvie stabs him, he makes barely any noise.

DI MARTINO: Because he knows that it's a possibility, I think. So maybe he's had a long time to sort of imagine every scenario. Yeah. It's kind of creepy, isn't it? The way he does that.

When you were breaking down the script for Episode 6, were you talking about Kang the Conqueror? Were you talking about the comic book backstory there?

DI MARTINO: I don't remember talking about the comic book backstory of Episode 6. But you know, to be honest, it was all very quick. Especially with Episode 6, we got the script pretty late in the day. So there wasn't that much mining to be done, to be honest. I'm not sure about Jonathan's experience, but for me, it was sort of pretty late in the day, just in the case of learning my lines and trying to make sure I didn't mess that up.

Of course — and it makes sense in terms of where your character is coming from.

DI MARTINO: Exactly. So I just need to know at that point, I just need to know what's going on for Sylvie.

In that case, in your head, what was going on for Sylvie in those scenes?

DI MARTINO: Oh my goodness. So much. I mean, so much happens in like 30 seconds. Doesn't it?

Definitely. But even before the final sequences, it's very dialogue-heavy and there's a lot of listening. In playing that, what was important for you?

DI MARTINO: To really listen and to really take on board what he was saying to us at that point, and then to choose not to believe him. For Sylvie, she's just on a revenge mission from the minute she walks into that building, she knows that she wants to kill someone. When they're in the elevator with him, she's already taking swipes at him. She just wants to get him with her machete. And I think she's just so laser-focused on that goal, that he could have said anything to her and her priority wouldn't have changed.

So you don't think there was ever a moment in that whole sequence where Sylvie was tempted, not tempted by the possibilities presented, but tempted to believe him?

DI MARTINO: I think there's a moment that he really pushes Sylvie's buttons when he's talking about you have been on a long journey and it's been really tough for you, hasn't it? And you can't trust anyone. You think you can trust him. And he starts playing mind games with them, playing them off against each other. And I think at that point, he plants a seed of doubt in her mind about Loki, but I think her mission to want to kill him doesn't change. She's absolutely married to that idea. And that feeling is so strong that she chooses it over Loki in the end.

From your perspective, where does that come from?

DI MARTINO: Just revenge. Like having her life taken away from her, her life ruined, spending her whole life on the run, this sort of anger. And if you want to think of it in these terms, her "glorious purpose." I went there.

I don't think you got to say those words during the show, so I'm glad you got this moment now.

DI MARTINO: Yeah. I'm saying it as much as I can now.

Later in the episode, this wasn't the first time you had a fight sequence with Tom Hiddleston, but did it feel different from the episodes you shot earlier?

DI MARTINO: Yeah, it did. This scene was far more emotive. There was a lot more going on for both of them. It was the breakup scene. It was the fight that you have when you are leaving someone. And it's so painful because you care about this person, but you just can't be with them for whatever reason. And that's how that felt.

Which is so interesting because of course what happens at the end of it is that there's a kiss and it's given the whole big Hollywood romantic music treatment.

DI MARTINO: Yeah. I mean, but that often happens when you're splitting up with someone, doesn't it? Just one last time, a sweet goodbye. It's kind of like a goodbye kiss in a way.

Of course. But it was also, unless I'm missing something, the first kiss.

DI MARTINO: Yeah. It was. And it had been building up for a long, long time. I think it was ultimately a goodbye kiss and a clap away for Sylvie to physically turn him around so she could get hold of that TemPad and zap him back to the TVA.

Yeah, of course. In terms of that, in general, I feel like there's a temptation to just kind of look at the Loki and Sylvie relationship as a straightforward romance, which of course it is very much not. From your perspective, what was it about that you worked hard to lean into.

DI MARTINO: I think it's about sort of self-love and acceptance as well as being a romance story. And for Sylvie, she's sort of shedding everything she doesn't need before she gets to He Who Remains so she can kill him. She gets rid of her cape, she gets rid of her horns. She ultimately gets rid of Loki. It's just not serving her in that moment. And it's so cold to think of it that way. But I think that's what was happening. That and the fact that she wanted him to be safe. So, she's kind of saving him by pushing him through that time door as well.

And if you're going to think of it as like an exploration of self-acceptance and self-love, that's also interesting because she showed sort-of, I don't know, getting rid of a part of herself that isn't serving her anymore at the same time as keeping it safe.

It's really interesting to hear you talk about it that way, because it makes me think about how the one thing that came out, especially I think in Episode 5, is the idea that knowing Sylvie made Loki a better person in some fundamental ways. And I'm wondering about the opposite of that. What did knowing Loki mean for Sylvie?

DI MARTINO: I think it's slightly different for Sylvie. I don't know if he's made her a better person. I don't know if she's allowed herself to change yet. Loki's been quite brave and he's changed. He's a changed person by the end of that series. Sylvie is still hell-bent on her mission and she still chooses it over caring about someone else. So maybe she's yet to make that change.

So in talking about the scene like it's a breakup... Season 1 ends with the characters being very separated and of course, Season 2 is very much a nebulous thing at the moment, but people break up all the time and get back together. In your head, do you see there being still some sort of future for the characters as a couple?

DI MARTINO: It would definitely be fun to see them in the same room together again, wouldn't it? I'm fascinated. Yeah. After that, I'm fascinated to see what Loki has to say to Sylvie after doing that to him. Who knows? Never say never. I'm really excited to see what they come up with because it could go in so many different directions, but surely they have to come face to face again at some point.

It's like that awkward party after you've broken up with someone and you see them again. And that first conversation, whether it's in public or not, it's sorts of awful, but such a relief once it's been done.

Something that's been kind of a topic of discussion when it comes to talking about romance on screen is a quality that a lot of leading men have — for lack of a better term, the ability to give their love interest a Look. I've consulted with others and we feel like Tom Hiddleston has the look or has the ability to deliver the look. And I'm curious what it's like to be on the other side of it.

DI MARTINO: Tom's a very charming man and he could definitely make people go weak at the knees by just giving them a look. My reaction to that is always to sort of make a joke and run away. So there was probably a lot of that on set, breaking the tension by being a goofball.

I just had to react as Sylvie. And Sylvie's got these walls up. She doesn't let anyone in and that includes Loki. So sure there's a sort of, oh, this person is not as I thought they were. I'm warming to them. But Sylvie's not an easy nut to crack.

Is it fun getting to play that kind of strength?

DI MARTINO: Yeah. It's awesome because when her defenses do come down and she's vulnerable, it's really interesting. And you start to see all of the stuff that's buried underneath and that's what makes her a great character to play.

So, how do you feel about there being a second season? Do you feel like if there hadn't been a second season, you would have gotten the closure you wanted to from the story?

DI MARTINO: Probably not. I want to know what happens just like everyone else. I'm super excited and I just can't wait to see which direction they're going because it could be infinite directions.

Do you have a sense that there might've been different aspects to it, had COVID not been an issue?

DI MARTINO: I think COVID actually probably made it a lot better. We had a five months hiatus and Kate and the producers and writers worked a lot on episodes five and six during that time. And as far as I've heard, a lot changed for the better. They could rewatch what we'd already shot and just carry on working on the scripts and developing them. So I think it was great to have that time actually, as awful in most ways it was, that was the silver lining of it.

Very. Yeah. So looking forward, I imagine if there's a second season, you're on board if you get asked.

DI MARTINO: Hopefully. Hope so.

By the way, I was really excited to see the story about how your costume was designed to allow you to breastfeed during shooting. That seems like it was a really special detail.

DI MARTINO: Yeah, really, really. I'm just so grateful that that happened. It made my life so much easier and it was important to me that I carried on doing that. So it was just the little things and it's just saved a lot of time. Practically, it was a godsend.

Of course. So looking forward, what's next for you?

DI MARTINO: Lots of interviews. Lots of being able to talk about episode six finally, and then, who knows? An infinite possibility. So yeah, I'm excited to see what happens and to see people's reactions to the series because people are still catching up. People are still watching and rewatching it and probably go on.

Yeah. I mean, I imagine that you're going to be cosplayed at various conventions over the next several decades probably.

DI MARTINO: Do you think? That blows my mind.

I mean, cosplaying has a long legacy to it.

DI MARTINO: It's so cool. The way that people are already making Sylvie horns and crafting them from scratch and spraying them. And there's one woman that's just sewn a whole suit together and it looks exactly like my costume. It's so impressive, the love and attention people put into it.

Are you getting an action figure?

DI MARTINO: I don't know. Hopefully. What would I do with it? Maybe I could use it as a cake topper. Who knows? But that would be a very cool thing to have, wouldn't it?

[oikirstein]

Scene:A neighbourhood on a street called Privet Drive. An owl, sitting on the street sign flies off to reveal a mysterious appearing old man walking through a forest near the street. He stops at the start of the street and takes out a mechanical device and zaps all the light out of the lampposts. He puts away the device and a cat meows. The man, ALBUS DUMBLEDORE, looks down at the cat, which is a tabby and is sitting on a brick ledge.Dumbledore: I should have known that you would be here...Professor McGonagall.The cat meows, sniffs out and the camera pans back to a wall. The cats shadow is seen progressing into a human. There are footsteps and MINERVA MCGONAGALL is revealed.McGonagall: Good evening, Professor Dumbledore. Are the rumours true, Albus?Dumbledore: I'm afraid so, Professor. The good, and the bad.McGonagall: And the boy?Dumbledore: Hagrid is bringing him.McGonagall: Do you think it wise to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?Albus: Ah, Professor, I would trust Hagrid with my life.There is a motor sound, and the two professors look up to see a flying motorcycle coming down from the air. It skids on the street and halts. A large man, RUBEUS HAGRID, takes off his goggles.Hagrid: Professor Dumbledore, Sir. Professor McGonagall.Dumbledore: No problems, I trust, Hagrid?Hagrid: No, sir. Little tyke fell asleep just as we were flying over Bristol. Heh. Try not to wake him. There you go.Hagrid hands a baby in a blanket over to Dumbledore.McGonagall: Albus, do you really think its safe, leaving him with these people? I've been watching them all day. They're the worst sort of Muggles imaginable. They really areDumbledore: The only family he has.They stop outside a house.McGonagall: This boy will be famous. There wont be a child in our world who doesn't know his name.Dumbledore: Exactly. He's better off growing up away from all that. Until he is ready.Hagrid coughs and sniffles, he is crying. He clears his throat.Dumbledore: There, there, Hagrid. It's not really good-bye, after all.Hagrid nods. Dumbledore takes a letter and places it on the baby, who is now at the foot of the door. The baby has a visible lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead.Dumbledore: Good luck...Harry Potter.The camera pans into the scar and the opening title shows:HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE

Almost ten years after the: DURSLEY's home. The camera pans on a sleeping boy, almost eleven, with a lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead.

There is a click, and knocking. Outside, a tall woman, PETUNIA DURSLEY, raps the door.

Petunia: Up. Get up. {Knocks} {sighs} Now! {Smacks door of closet which is the boys bedroom}

A large, tubby boy, DUDLEY DURSLEY, suddenly comes running down the stairs above the closet. He stops half-way down and goes back, jumping on the staircase.

Dudley: Wake up, cousin! We're going to the zoo!

Dudley laughs, comes down the stairs and runs for the kitchen. The boy, HARRY POTTER, tries to come out of the closet, but is pushed back in by Dudley.

Petunia is in the kitchen, where Dudley has gone.

Petunia: Oh, here he comes, the birthday boy!

A larger man, VERNON DURSLEY, is sitting at the kitchen table.

Vernon: Happy birthday, son.

Petunia and Dudley giggle together. Harry comes into the kitchen, dressed in rags.

Petunia: Why don't you just cook the breakfast, and try not to burn anything.

Harry: Yes, Aunt Petunia.

He sets to work.

Petunia: I want everything to be perfect for my Dudley's special day.

Vernon: Hurry up! Bring my coffee, boy!

Harry: Yes, Uncle Vernon.

Petunia leads Dudley over to the family room, where there are a vast amount of presents. Dudley stares.

Dudley: How many are there?

Vernon: Thirty-six. Counted 'em myself.

Dudley: Thirty-six?! But last year last year I got thirty-seven!!

Vernon: Yes, well, some of them are quite a bit bigger than last year!

Dudley: I don't care how big they are!

Petunia: Oh, now, now, now. This is what we're going to do, is that when we go out we're going to buy you two new presents! How's that, Pumpkin?

Scene:

Outside, morning. The happy family is heading to the car. Harry goes to get in but is stopped by Vernon.

Petunia: This will be a lovely day at the zoo. I'm really looking forward to it.

Vernon: I'm warning you now, boy. Any funny business, any at all, and you won't have any meals for a week. Get in.

Scene:

The zoo. The family is in the reptile house, looking at a large BOA CONSTRICTOR.

Dudley: Make it move.

Vernon raps the glass of the cage.

Vernon: Move!

Dudley raps the glass much harder, and Vernon winces.

Dudley: MOVE!

Harry: He's asleep!

Dudley: He's boring.

Dudley and his parents retreat to another enclosure. Harry is left with the snake.

Harry: Sorry about him. He doesn't understand what it's like, lying there day after day, having people press their ugly faces in on you.

The snake looks up and blinks.

Harry: Can you...hear me? {The snake nods} It's just...I've never talked to a snake before. Do you...I mean...do you talk to people often? {The snake shakes its head} You're from Burma, aren't you? Was it nice there, do you miss your family? {The snake turns its head in the direction of a sign which says, Bred in Captivity} I see. That's me as well. I never knew my parents, either.

The now awake snake has attracted Dudley's attention. He rips over to the cage, knocking Harry to the floor.

Dudley: Mummy, dad, come here! You won't believe what this snake is doing!!

Dudley puts his hands on the glass wall. Harry, from the ground, glares at him. Suddenly, the glass disappears. Dudley wretches forward.

Dudley: Whoa! Ahh! Ahh!!

Dudley falls into the snake enclosure, sputtering in a pool of water. The snake gets out of the exhibit, stopping in front of Harry.

Snake: Thankssssssss.

Harry: Anytime.

The snake starts off.

Man: SNAKE!

There is a lot of screaming as the snake heads for freedom. Dudley gets up to get out, but the glass is now back over the enclosure. He is stuck. He pounds the glass.

Dudley: Mum, mummy!

Petunia: {Sees him} AHH!

Dudley: Mum, help! Help me!

Petunia: My darling boy! How did you get in there?!

Harry: {Grins and giggles}

Vernon glares down at him and Harry's grin disappears. Petunia continues screaming: How did you get in there? Dursley, oh, Dursley!

Scene:

Back at the Dursley's. Petunia and a bundled up Dudley come in.

Petunia: It's all right. It's all right.

They disappear around the corner. Harry and Vernon enter. Vernon slams the door and shoves Harry against a wall, taking his hair.

Harry: Ow!

Vernon: What happened?

Harry: I swear I don't know! One minute the glass was there and then it was gone! It was like magic!

Vernon: {Scoffs and shoves Harry into the closet} There's no such thing as magic!

Scene:

Outside, some time later. An owl flies by the house and drops a letter, which zooms in the letterbox. It lands away from the house and hoots.

Harry, inside, goes to collect the mail. He sorts through the letters and sees his, addressed to him. He goes into the kitchen, hands Vernon the rest of the mail, and walks around the other side of the table to see his letter.

Vernon: Ah, Marge is ill. Ate a funny whelk.

Dudley: {Sees Harrys letter. He runs and grabs it} Dad, look! Harry's got a letter!!

Harry: Hey, give it back! It's mine!

Vernon: {Laughs} Yours? Who'd be writing to you?

The family gathers to look at the address. There is a broken seal on the letter. The family looks up and Harry gulps.

Scene:

Another owl flies by with a letter and drops it off. Inside, Vernon grabs a handful of letters and rips them up.

In the closet, Harry hears a whirring noise. He looks out at Vernon drilling wood over the letterbox opening.

Vernon: No more mail through this letterbox.

Scene:

Outside, Vernon and Petunia appear. Vernon is about to head off to work. Petunia kisses his cheek.

Petunia: Have a lovely day at the office, dear.

She stops, looks and sees a bunch of owls.

Vernon: Shoo! Go on!

Scene:

Inside. Vernon is tossing letters into the fireplace. Harry comes around the corner. Vernon grins evilly and tosses more in.

Scene:

Living/Family room. The family is sitting around, Harry is serving cookies.

Vernon: Fine day Sunday. In my opinion, best day of the week. Why is that, Dudley?

Dudley shrugs.

Harry: {Hands cookie to Vernon} Because there's no post on Sunday? Ah, right you are, Harry. No post on Sunday. Hah! No blasted letters today. No, sir. {Harry sees a shadow outside the window. Outside, millions of owls are perched.} No sir, not one blasted, miserable---

A letter shoots out of the fireplace and zips across Vernons face. There is a rumbling and then zillions of letters come shooting out of the fireplace.

Dudley: AHH! Make it stop! Please make it stop! {He jumps on Petunias lap}

Petunia and Vernon: {Screaming}

Vernon: Go away, ahh!

Dudley: What is it? Please tell me what's happening!

Harry jumps onto the coffee table to grab a letter. He gets one and starts to run away. Vernon jumps up as well.

Vernon: Give me that! Give me that letter!

He chases Harry and grabs him before Harry gets into his closet.

Harry: Get off! Ahh!

Vernon: Ahh!

Harry: They're my letters! Let go of me!

Vernon: That's it! We're going away! Far away! Where they can't find us!

Dudley: Daddy's gone mad, hasnt he?!

Scene:

A house, on a rock island somewhere out at sea. The family is sleeping, with Harry on the cold, dirt floor. He has drawn a birthday cake which reads, Happy Birthday Harry. Harry looks at Dudley's watch, which beeps 12:00.

Harry: Make a wish, Harry. {Blows}

Suddenly, the door thumps. Harry jumps. The door thumps again and Dudley and Harry jump up and back away. Petunia and Vernon appear, Vernon with a gun. The door bangs again and then cracks open, and a giant man appears.

Vernon: Who's there? Ahh!

Hagrid: Sorry 'bout that. {He puts the door back up}

Vernon: I demand that you leave at once, Sir! You are breaking and entering!

Petunia: Ooh.

Hagrid comes over, grabs the gun and bends it upwards.

Hagrid: Dry up, Dursley, you great prune. {The gun fires}

All: Ahh!

Hagrid: {sees Dudley} Mind, I haven't seen you since you was a baby, Harry, but you're a bit more along than I would have expected. Particularly 'round the middle!

Dudley: I-I-I'm not Harry.

Harry appears: I-I am.

Hagrid: Oh, well, of course you are! Got something for ya. 'Fraid I might have sat on it at some point! I imagine that it'll taste fine just the same. Ahh. Baked it myself. {Hands Harry the cake} Words and all. Heh.

Harry: Thank you! {Opens cake, which reads: Happee Birdae Harry.}

Hagrid: It's not every day that your young man turns eleven, now is it?

Hagrid sits down on the couch, takes out an umbrella and points it at the empty fire. Poof, poof! Two sparks fly out and the fire starts. The family gapes.

Harry: {puts cake down} Excuse me, who are you?

Hagrid: Rubeus Hagrid. Keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts. Course, you'll know all about Hogwarts.

Harry: Sorry, no.

Hagrid: No? Blimey, Harry, didn't you ever wonder where your mum and dad learned it all?

Harry: Learnt what?

Hagrid: You're a wizard, Harry.

Harry: I-I'm a what?

Harry: A wizard. And a thumping good one at that, I'd wager. Once you train up a little.

Harry: No, you've made a mistake. I can't be...a-a wizard. I mean, I'm just... Harry. Just Harry.

Hagrid: Well, Just Harry, did you ever make anything happen? Anything you couldn't explain when you were angry or scared? {Harry softens his expression} Ah.

Dudley: {whimpers}

Hagrid hands Harry the same letter that has been sent the past while. Harry opens it.

Harry: Dear, Mr. Potter. We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!

Vernon: Hell not be going! We swore when we took him in wed put an end to this rubbish!

Harry: You knew?? You knew all along and you never told me?

Petunia: Of course we knew. How could you not be? My perfect sister being who she was. Oh, my mother and father were so proud the day she got her letter. We have a witch in the family. Isn't it wonderful? I was the only one to see her for what she was. A freak! And then she met that Potter, and then she had you, and I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as ... abnormal. And then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up! And we got landed with you.

Harry: Blown up? You told me my parents died in a car crash!

Hagrid: A car crash? A car crash kill James and Lily Potter?

Petunia: We had to tell him something.

Hagrid: It's an outrage! It's a scandal!

Vernon: He'll not be going!

Hagrid: Oh, and I suppose a great Muggle like yourself's going to stop him, are you?

Harry: Muggle?

Hagrid: Non magic folk. This boy's had his name down ever since he was born! He's going to the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world, and he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts' has ever seen: Albus Dumbledore.

Vernon: I will not pay for some crackpot old fool to teach him magic tricks!

Hagrid: {whips out umbrella and points it at Vernon} Never insult Albus Dumbledore in front of me.

Hagrid sees Dudley eating Harry's cake, and points the umbrella at his rear. A grey tail grows.

Dudley: Ahh!

All: Ahh! {family chases Dudley}

Harry: {laughs}

Hagrid: Oh, um, I'd appreciate if you didn't tell anyone at Hogwarts about that. Strictly speaking, I'm not allowed to do magic.

Harry: {Nods} Okay.

Hagrid: {checks a clock} Ooh, we're a bit behind schedule. Best be off. Unless you'd rather stay, of course. Hmm? {Leaves}

Harry grins, looks back, and grins again.

Scene:

Streets of London. Hagrid and Harry are walking.

Harry: All students must be equipped with...one standard size two pewter cauldron and may bring if they desire either an owl, a cat or a toad. Can we find all this in London?

Hagrid: If you know where to go.

They go to a corner store and enter, The Leaky Cauldron.

{Music and talking}

Barkeep Tom: Ah, Hagrid! The usual, I presume?

Hagrid: No thanks, Tom. I'm on official Hogwarts business today. Just helping young Harry here buy his school supplies.

Tom: Bless my soul. It's Harry Potter.

The pub goes silent. A man comes up and shakes Harrys hand.

Man: Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back.

A witch comes up and shakes Harrys hand, as well.

Witch: Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter. I can't believe I'm meeting you at last.

A man in robes with a turban on his head appears. It is PROFESSOR QUIRRELL.

Quirrell: Harry P-potter. C-can't tell you how pleased I am to meet you.

Hagrid: Hello, Professor. I didn't see you there. Harry, this is Professor Quirrell. He'll be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts.

Harry: Oh, nice to meet you. {Puts out hand. Quirrell refuses}

Quirrell: F-fearfully fascinating subject. N-not that you need it, e-eh, Potter? Heheh.

Hagrid: Yes, well, must be going now. Lots to buy. Heh.

Harry: Good-bye.

The two leave into a back room winery in front of a brick wall.

Hagrid: See, Harry, you're famous!

Harry: But why am I famous, Hagrid? All those people back there, how is it they know who I am?

Hagrid: I'm not exactly sure I'm the right person to tell you that, Harry. {Taps the brick wall clockwise with his umbrella. The blocks shift and open up to reveal a hidden, busy street.}

Welcome, Harry, to Diagon Alley.

Harry grins broadly as they step into the street and walk down it. An owl screeches.

Hagrid: Here's where you'll get your quills and ink, and over there all your bits and bobs for doing your wizardry.

Harry is amazed as they pass by shops and owls and bats. The camera pans on a broom store, where a group of boys are crowded around a shiny broom.

Boy: It's a world class racing broom. Look at it, its the new Nimbus 2000! It's the fastest model yet.

Harry: But, Hagrid, how am I to pay for all this? I haven't any money.

Hagrid: Well there's your money, Harry. Gringotts, the Wizard Bank. T'aint no place safer, 'cept perhaps Hogwarts.

Inside the bank, they walk down the shiny aisle, passing tiny creatures working.

Harry: Uh, Hagrid, what exactly are those things?

Hagrid: They're goblins, Harry. Clever as they come goblins but not the most friendly of beasts. Best stick close to me. {Harry sticks to him.} {Hagrid clears his throat as they approach a counter with a goblin in it.} Mr. Harry Potter wishes to make a withdrawal.

The goblin looks up.

Goblin: And does Mr. Harry Potter have his key?

Hagrid: Oh. Wait a minute. Got it here somewhere. Hah. Here's the little devil. Oh, and there's something else as well. Professor Dumbledore gave me this. It's about you-know-what in vault you-know-which. {Hands Goblin letter wrapped in string.}

Goblin: Very well.

Scene:

Racing down the depth caverns in a cartlike structure. The cart stops, a goblin, GRIPHOOK, clambers out.

Griphook: Vault 687. Lamp, please. {Hagrid hands him the lamp and he walks to the vault} Key please. {Hagrid hands him the key and he unlocks it}

The room is filled nearly top to bottom with coins. Harry is amazed.

Hagrid: Didn't think your mum and dad would leave you with nothing, now didja?

They continue on through the cavern.

Griphook: Vault 713.

Harry: What's in there, Hagrid?

Hagrid: Can't tell you, Harry. It's Hogwarts business. Very secret.

Griphook: Stand back. {Slides finger down the door. Clank. Clank. The vault opens to expose a small white stone package. Hagrid hurries in and scoops it up. The eerie light it was shining with disappears.}

Hagrid: Best not mention this to anyone, Harry.

Harry nods.

Scene: Outside in the street, walking.

Harry: I still need...a wand.

Hagrid: A wand? Well, you'll want Ollivanders. No place better. Run along there, but wait. I just got one more thing I got to do. Won't be long.

Harry goes into the store, quietly. He looks around. There are shelves of wands, but no people.

Harry: {Softly} Hello? Hello?

There is a thunk. A man appears on a ladder and looks at Harry. He smiles.

Ollivander: I wondered when I'd be seeing you, Mr. Potter. It seems only yesterday that your mother and father were in here buying their first wands. {Picks a wand} Ah. Here we are. {Harry holds it but just stands} Well, give it a wave.

Harry: Oh! {waves. All the shelves come crashing down. Harry jumps and hurriedly puts the wand back on the counter.}

Ollivander: Apparently not. {Gets another wand.} Perhaps this. {Harry waves at a vase, which blows apart.} No, no, definitely not! No matter...{gets a wand} I wonder. {Hands wand to Harry. Harry glows under it.} Curious, very curious.

Harry: Sorry, but what's curious?

Ollivander: I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. It just so happens that the phoenix, whose tail feather resides in your wand gave one other feather, just one. It is curious that you should be destined for this wand when its brother gave you that scar. {Points to scar}

Harry: And...who owned that wand?

Ollivander: Oh, we do not speak his name. The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter. It's not always clear why, but I think it is clear that we can expect great things from you. After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things...terrible, yes, but great. {Hands Harry his wand.}

There is a knock on the window.

Hagrid: Harry! Harry! Happy birthday! {Has a snowy owl in a cage which hoots.}

Harry: Wow.

Scene: Later, eating supper. The two, Hagrid and Harry, are at a long table, eating soup.

Hagrid: You all right, Harry? You seem very quiet.

Harry: He killed my parents, didn't he? The one who gave me this. You know, Hagrid, I know you do.

Hagrid: {Sighs and pushes bowl away} First, and understand this, Harry, 'cause it's very important. Not all wizards are good. Some of them go bad. A few years ago there was one wizard who went as bad as you can go. And his name was V-...his name was V-...

Harry: Maybe if you wrote it down?

Hagrid: No, I can't spell it. All right. His name was Voldemort.

Harry: Voldemort?

Hagrid: Shh!!

{Harry looks around}

A flashback ensues, consisting off a cloaked man walking towards a house, breaking in with his wand, and proceeding to terrorize. Hagrid narrates.

Hagrid: It was dark times, Harry, dark times. Voldemort started to gather some followers, brought 'em over to the dark side. Anyone that stood up to him ended up dead. Your parents fought against him, but nobody lived once he decided to kill 'em. {Harrys mother, LILY, screams as she is killed by Voldemorts wand} Nobody...not one. Except you. {close-up of baby Harry.}

Harry: Me? Voldemort tried to kill...me?

Hagrid: Yes. That ain't no ordinary cut on your forehead, Harry. A mark like that only comes from being touched by a curse...and an evil curse at that.

Harry: What happened to Vo-...to You-Know-Who?

Hagrid: Some say he died. Codswallop in my opinion. Nope, I reckon he's out there, still, too tired to go on. But one thing's absolutely certain. Something about you stumped him that night. That's why you're famous, Harry. That's why everbody knows your name. You're the boy who lived.

Scene: London Train Station. Up on a crossing bridge, Harry (with cart and owl) walk beside Hagrid.A couple look at Hagrid.Hagrid: What're you looking at? {Looks at watch} Blimey, is that the time?? Sorry, Harry, I'm gonna have to leave you. Dumbledore'll be wanting his...well, he'll be wanting to see me. Now, uh, your train leaves in 10 minutes. Here's your ticket. Stick to it, Harry that's very important. Stick to your ticket.Harry looks at his golden ticket.Harry: Platform 9 ¾? But Hagrid, there must be a mistake. This says Platform 9 ¾. There's no such thing...is there? {Harry looks up and Hagrid has vanished.}Scene: Harry is walking down lane between trains. A man rushes by.Man: Sorry.Harry sees a train master.Harry: Excuse me, excuse me.Trainmaster: {talking to woman and child} Right on your left, ma'am.Harry: Excuse me, Sir. Can you tell me where I might find Platform 9 ¾?Trainmaster: 9 ¾? Think youre being funny, do ya? {Leaves}A woman, daughter, and four boys walk by, pushing carts.Mrs. Weasley: It's the same year after year. Always packed with Muggles, of course.Harry: Muggles?Mrs. Weasley: Come on. Platform 9 ¾ this way! All right, Percy, you first.A tall boy with red hair comes forward and runs towards a brick wall. Amazingly, he disappears right into it. Harry is amazed.Mrs. Weasley: Fred, you next.George: He's not Fred, I am!Fred: Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother!Mrs. Weasley: Oh, I'm sorry, George.Fred: I'm only joking. I am Fred. {He runs through the wall, and is followed by his twin brother.}Harry shakes his head in disbelief.Harry: Excuse me! C-could you tell me how toMrs. Weasley: How to get on the platform? Yes, not to worry, dear. It's Ron's first time to Hogwarts as well. {pan to a red haired boy who smiles} Now, all you've got to do is walk straight at the wall between platforms 9 and 10. Best do it at a bit of a run if youre nervous.Ginny (daughter): Good luck.Harry takes a breath and runs at the wall. He shuts his eyes and emerges on the other side a magnificent station with a red train and bundles of people. A whistle blows, and Harry sighs with relief.Scene: The train is traveling through unknown country. Pan to inside compartment, where Harry is sitting. The red headed boy, RON, appears, dirt on his nose.Ron: Excuse me, do you mind? Everywhere else is full.Harry: No, not at all.Ron: {sits across from Harry} I'm Ron, by the way. Ron Weasley.Harry: I'm Harry. Harry Potter.{Ron goes agape.}Ron: So-so it's true?! I mean, do you really have the...the...Harry: The what?Ron: {whispers} Scar...?Harry: Oh, yeah. {lifts up hair}Ron: Wicked.A trolley comes by the compartment, full of sweets.Woman: Anything off the trolley, dears?Ron: {Holds up mushed sandwiches} No, thanks, I'm all set. {smacks lips.}Harry: {pulls out coins} We'll take the lot!Ron: Whoa!Scene: Eating bundles of sweets.Ron's rat, Scabbers, is perched on Ron's knee, a box over its head.Harry: Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans?Ron: They mean every flavour! There's chocolate and peppermint, and there's also spinach, liver and tripe. George sweared he got a bogey-flavoured one once!Harry quickly takes the bean he was chewing out of his mouth.Harry: {picks up blue and gold package} These aren't real chocolate frogs, are they?Ron: It's only a spell. Besides, it's the cards you want. Each pack's got a famous witch or wizard. I got about 500 meself.Frog: Ribbit. {The frog jumps onto the window and climbs up, then leaps out the window...disappearing.}Ron: Oh, that's rotten luck. They've only got one good jump in them to begin with.Harry: Hey, I got Dumbledore!Ron: I got about 6 of him.Harry: Hey, he's gone!Ron: Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day, can you? {Scabbers squeaks} This is Scabbers, by the way, pitiful, isn't he?Harry: Just a little bit.Ron: Fred gave me a spell as to turn him yellow. Want to see?Harry: Yeah!Ron: {clears throat} Ahem. Sun-A girl, HERMIONE GRANGER, with bushy brown hair appears at the doorway.Hermione: Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one.Ron: No.Hermione: Oh, are you doing

magic? Let's see then.Ron: Aghhhemm. Sunshine, daises, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow!{Zap. Nothing happens. Ron shrugs.}Hermione: Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good, is it? Of course I've only tried a few simple spells myself, and they've all worked for me. For example...{Hermione goes over and sits across from Harry. He points her hand at his glasses and Harry tenses} Oculus Reparo. {The glasses, which noseband is battered, are repaired. Harry takes them off, amazed.} That's better, isn't it? Holy Cricket, you're Harry Potter. I'm Hermione Granger...and you are...?Ron: {full mouth} I'm...Ron Weasley.Hermione: Pleasure. You two better change into your robes. I expect we'll be arriving soon. {Gets up and leaves, then comes back and looks at Ron.} You've got dirt, on your nose, by the way, did you know? Just there. {Points} {Ron scratches his nose, embarrassed.}Scene: Darkness, the train blows its whistle and pulls into an outdoor station. Hagrid walks along the side aisle, with a lantern. People begin pouring out of the train.Hagrid: Right, then! First years! This way, please! Come on, now, don't be shy! Come on now, hurry up!Harry and Ron walk up to Hagrid.Hagrid: Hello, Harry.Harry: Hey, Hagrid.Ron: Whoaa!Hagrid: Right then. This way to the boats! Come on, now, follow me.Scene:A number of boats are plugging across a vast lake, where up ahead a huge castle can be seen. People are in awe.Ron: Wicked.Scene: On a higher level, Professor McGonagall is waiting. She raps her fingers on a stone railing, and then goes to the top of the stairs to greet the newcomers.McGonagall: Welcome to Hogwarts. Now, in a few moments, you will pass through these doors and join your classmates. But before you can take your seats you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Now, while you are here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you house points. Any rule breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cupNEVILLE LONGBOTTOM, a scared looking boy, spots his toad sitting near McGonagall. He jumps forward.Neville: Trevor! {McGonagall stares down at him} Sorry. {He backs away.}McGonagall: The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily. {leaves}DRACO MALFOY, a slicked back evil looking boy speaks up.Draco: It's true then, what they're saying on the train. Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts. {Students whisper, Harry Potter?} This is Crabbe, and Goyle {nods to thugs} and I'm Malfoy...Draco Malfoy. {Ron snickers at his name} Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask yours. Red hair, and a hand me down robe? You must be a Weasley. Well soon find that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. Dont want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there. {extends hand.}Harry: I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks.Draco glares. McGonagall returns and smacks him on the shoulder with a paper. He retreats with one last glare.McGonagall: We're ready for you now.She leads everyone through two large doors and into the Great Hall, where there are four long tables with many kids, as well as floating candles. The roof appears to be the sky.Hermione: It's not real, the ceiling. It's just bewitched to look like the night sky. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History.McGonagall: All right, will you wait along here, please? Now, before we begin, Professor Dumbldedore would like to say a few words.Dumbledore rises from the main table.Dumbledore: I have a few start of term notices I wish to announce. The first years please note that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker, Mr. Filch {signals to ragged old man with a cat with red eyes} has asked me to remind you that the 3rd floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death. Thank you.McGonagall: When I call your name, you will come forth, I shall place the sorting hat on your head, and you will

be sorted into your houses. Hermione Granger.Hermione: Oh, no. Okay, relax. {She goes up}Ron: Mental that one, I'm telling you.Harry nods in agreement.Sorting Hat: Ah, right then...hmm...right. Okay...Gryffindor!!(Cheering)Hermione jumps off with a smile.McGonagall: Draco Malfoy.Draco saunters up proudly. The tattered hat nearly freaks before touching down on Dracos head.Sorting Hat: SLYTHERIN!Ron: There isn't a witch or wizard who went bad who wasnt in Slytherin.McGonagall: Susan Bones.A small, redhead goes up.Harry looks around and spots a black haired, pale teacher, SEVERUS SNAPE, looking at him. His scar hurts.Harry: Ahh! {puts hand on forehead}Ron: Harry, what is it?Harry: Nothing...it's nothing, I'm fine.Sorting Hat: Let's see...I know...Hufflepuff!McGonagall: Ronald Weasley.Ron gulps and walks up. He sits down and the hat is put on.Sorting Hat: Ah! Another Weasley. I know just where to put you...Gryffindor!!Ron: {Sighs}(Cheering)McGonagall: Harry Potter.Everything goes silent. Harry walks up and sits down.Sorting Hat: Hmm...difficult, very difficult. Plenty of courage I see, not a bad mind, either. There's talent, oh yes, and a thirst to prove yourself. But where to put you?Harry: {whispers} Not Slytherin. Not Slytherin.Sorting Hat: Not Slytherin, eh? Are you sure? You could be great, you know. Its all here in your head. And Slytherin will help you on your way to greatness! There's no doubt about that! No? {Harry whispers: Not Slytherin...anything but Slytherin} Well, if youre sure...better be...GRYFFINDOR!!There is an immense cheering and Harry goes to the Gryffindor table.Fred and George are also there, and cheer: We got Potter! We got Potter! Harry sits down.McGonagall: {dings on a cup} Your attention, please.Dumbledore: Let the feast...begin.Food magically appears on all the tables, and the hall is filled with awe and chatter.Harry: Wow.Draco looks at all the food, raises his eyebrows and digs in.Ron stuffs his face.SEAMUS FINNIGAN, a tiny boy, speaks.Seamus: I'm half and half. Me dad's a Muggle. Mam's a witch. Bit of a nasty shock for him when he found out.Neville laughs.Harry is sitting next to Percy. He leans over.Harry: Say, Percy, who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?Percy: Oh, that's Professor Snape, head of Slytherin house.Harry: What's he teach?Percy: Potions. But everyone knows it's the Dark Arts he fancies. He's been after Quirrells job for years.Ron, having just finished a chicken wing, reaches into the bowl for more, and a ghostly head, SIR NICHOLAS, pops out.Ron: Ahh!Nick: Hello! How are you? Welcome to Gryffindor.Numerous ghosts come pouring from the walls, sailing along.Hufflepuff ghost: Whoo-hoo-hoo!Girl: Look, its the Bloody Baron!Percy: Hello, Sir Nicholas. Have a nice summer?Nick: Dismal. Once again, my request to join the headless hunt has been denied. {Begins to leave}Ron: Hey, I know you! You're Nearly Headless Nick!Nick: I prefer Sir Nicholas if you don't mind.Hermione: Nearly headless? How can you be nearly headless?Nick: Like this. {Grabs head and pulls it to the side. His head is hanging on just by a thread.}Ron: Ahh!Hermione: Eugh.Scene:Percy is leading the Gryffindors to the staircases.Percy: Gryffindors, follow me please. Keep up. Thank you.Boy: Ravenclaw, follow me. This way.Percy: This is the most direct path to the dormitories. Oh, and keep an eye on the staircases...they like to change.The camera pans up and we see a vast amount of staircases, people walking on them, and some switching places.Percy: Keep up, please, and follow me. Quickly now, come on. Come on. {They begin walking up the stairs}Neville: Seamus, that picture's moving!Ron: Look at that one, Harry!Harry: I think she fancies you.Girl: Oh, look! Look! Who's that girl?Man in painting: Welcome to Hogwarts.Girl: Who's that?Scene:Approaching the Gryffindor dorms. They come up to a large painting of a large woman in a pink dress.Woman: Password? Percy: Caput Draconis. {The woman nods and the painting opens to reveal a gape in the wall.} Follow me, everyone. Keep up, quickly, come on.Girl: Oh, wow.Percy:

{Inside common room} Gather 'round here. Welcome to the Gryffindor Common Room. Boys' dormitories, upstairs and down to your left. Girls, the same on your right. You'll find that your belongings have already been brought up.Scene: Mid-night. Harry is sitting by a window in his pj's, with his owl, Hedwig. He pets the owl and looks out the window, sighing with content.

Scene: Morning. Harry and Ron are running through the stone halls to their class. They rush in. In the class, a tabby cat is sitting on a desk.Ron: Whew, amazing, can you imagine the look on old McGonagall's face if we were late?The cat jumps off the desk and turns into Professor McGonagall. The two boys are amazed.Ron: That was bloody brilliant.McGonagall: Thank you for that assessment, Mr. Weasley. Maybe if I were to transfigure Mr. Potter and yourself into a pocketwatch, maybe one of you would be on time.Harry: We got lost.McGonagall: Then perhaps a map? I trust you don't need one to find your seats.Scene: Snape's potions class. The students are chattering, sitting near steaming cauldrons. The door slams open and Snape comes rushing in.Snape: There will be no foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class. As such, I don't expect many of you to enjoy the subtle science and exact art that is potion making. However, for those select few {looks at Draco, who smiles}, who possess the predisposition, I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory and even put a stopper {Draco looks on} in death. {Draco raises his eyebrows.} {Snape sees Harry, writing this down, in, his view, not paying attention.} Then again, maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel confidant enough to not...pay...attention.Hermione nudges Harry in the ribs. He looks up.Snape: Mr. Potter. Our...new...celebrity. Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood? {Hermione's hand skyrockets. Harry shrugs.} You don't know? Well, let's try again. Where, Mr. Potter, would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar? {Hermione's hand shoots up again.}Harry: I don't know, Sir.Snape: And what is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfbane?Harry: I don't know, Sir.Snape: Pity. Clearly, fame isn't everything, is it, Mr. Potter?Scene: In the great hall, probably midday. The students are all working on homework.Seamus is trying a spell on a cup.Seamus: Eye of rabbit, harp string hum. Turn this water, into rum. {Looks in cup and shakes head.} Eye of rabbit, harp string hum...Harry: What's Seamus trying to do to that glass of water?Ron: Turn it into rum. Actually managed a weak tea yesterday, before...ZAPOOF! The cup explodes. There is laughter amongst the students. Suddenly, a flock of owls start coming into the hall from the rafters above.Ron: Ah. Mail's here!The owls soar by, dropping parcels to students. Harry gets nothing. He sees the newspaper Ron has put down.Harry: Can I borrow this? {Ron nods} Thanks.Neville is unwrapping a gift. It is a clear ball with gold around it.Seamus: Hey, look! Neville's got a Remembrall!Hermione: I've read about those. When the smoke turns red {the smoke turns red}, it means you've forgotten something.Neville: The only problem is, I can't remember what I've forgotten.Harry: Hey, Ron, somebody broke into Gringotts. Listen, Believed to be the work of dark witches or wizards unknown, Gringotts goblins, while acknowledging the breach, insist that nothing was taken. The vault in question, number 713, had in fact been emptied earlier that same day. That's odd. That's the vault Hagrid and I went to.Scene: Outside, flying practice. The students, Gryffindor and Slytherin, are lined up in two rows with brooms by their sides. The teacher, MADAM HOOCH, comes down the line. She has short hair and hawk yellow eyes.Hooch: Good afternoon, class.Class: Good afternoon, Madam Hooch.Hooch: Good afternoon, Amanda, good afternoon. {to class} Welcome to your first flying lesson. Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone step up to the left side of their broomstick. Come on now, hurry up. Stick your right hand over the broom and say, Up!Class: Up!Harry's broom flies into his hand.Harry: Whoa. {Hermione stares as the class continues.}Draco: Up! {broomstick flies up and Draco smugly grins.}Hooch: With feeling!Hermione: Up. Up. Up. Up.Ron: Up!! {His broom flies up and conks him on the nose} Ow!

{Harry laughs} Shut up, Harry. {laughs}Hooch: Now, once you've got hold of your broom, I want you to mount it. And grip it tight, you don't want to be sliding off the end. {Class mounts} When I blow my whistle, I want each of you to kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your broom steady, hover for a moment, and then lean forward slightly and touch back down. On my whistle...3...2...{tweet!}Neville immediately lifts off. He looks quite frightened.Neville: Oh...Hooch: Mr. Longbottom.Girl: Neville, what are you doing?Students: Neville...Neville...Boy: We're not supposed to take off, yet.Hooch: {Neville begins soaring away} M-M-Mr. Longbottom Mr. Longbottom!Neville: AHH! Hooch: Mr. Longbottom!Neville: {soars away} Down! Down! Ahhhh!Harry: Neville! {shouting}Neville: Help!!!Hooch: Come back down this instant!Neville: AHH!He soars through the sky and hits a wall, conking along it and then swooping off. All the while, he is screaming. He begins to zoom back towards the group of students. Hooch holds out her wand to stop him.Neville: Help!Hooch: Mr. Longbottom! {Neville approaches. The students scatter and Hooch dives out of the way. Neville goes through the scatter and up a tower.}Neville: Ahhhh! Whoa! Ahhh! {zooms past a statue of a man with a sharp spear. Neville's cloak catches on it. He is flipped off the broom and hangs there.} Oh. Ah...help! {He wavers, then the cloak rips, and he falls, catching on a torch, but then slipping out and falling to the ground.} Ahh!Hooch: Everyone out of the way! {She runs through the group, and they scatter.} Come on, get up.Girl: Is he alright?Neville: Owowowow.Hooch: Oh, oh, oh, oh dear. It's a broken wrist. Tch, tch, tch. Good boy, come on now, up you get. {Draco reaches down and grabs Neville's Remembrall, which has fallen. Hooch begins to lead Neville away with her.} Everyone's to keep their feet firmly on the ground while I take Mr. Longbottom to the hospital wing. Understand? If I see a single broom in the air, the one riding it will find themselves out of Hogwarts before they can say, Quidditch. {Exit.}Draco: {snickers} Did you see his face? Maybe if the fat lump had given this a squeeze, he'd have remembered to fall on his fat ass. {Laughs.}Harry: Give it here, Malfoy.Draco: No. I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find. {hops on broom and soars around group, then through.} How 'bout up on the roof?? {soars off and hovers high in the sky.} What's the matter, Potter? Bit beyond your reach?Harry grabs his broom and runs to get on it. Hermione stops him.Hermione: Harry, no! You heard what Madam Hooch said! Besides, you don't even know how to fly. {Harry flies off.} What an idiot.Harry is now in the air, across from Draco.Harry: Give it here, Malfoy, or I'll knock you off your broom!Draco: Is that so? {Harry makes a dash for him, but Draco twirls around his broom in a 360.} Have it your way, then! {He throws the Remembrall into the air.}Harry zooms after the ball, speeding towards a tower. Just as he is about to hit a window, from which McGonagall is working/watching, he catches it, and then heads back to the group. The students all cheer and run to see him.Boy: Good job, Harry!Boy 2: Oh, that was wicked, Harry.McGonagall: {appears quickly} Harry Potter? Follow me. {Harry sullenly follows her. Draco and his goons laugh.}Scene: Professor Quirrells classroom. He is inside, teaching, holding an iguana.Quirrell: An iguana s-such as this is {McGonagall approaches the class and stops Harry: You wait here.} an essential in-gredientMcGonagall: Excuse me, excuse me, Professor Quirrell. Could I borrow Wood for a moment?Quirrell: Oh. Y-yes, of course. {a boy, OLIVER WOOD, gets up to leave and Quirrell continues.} And the vampire b-bat...{eerie roar.}McGonagall: Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood, I have found you a Seeker!Scene: Harry and Ron are walking through crowded halls. Sir Nicholas and a lady ghost float by.Nick: Have you heard? Harry Potter's the new Gryffindor Seeker. I always knew hed do well.Ron: Seeker? But first years never make their house teams! You must be the

youngest Quidditch player inHarry: A century, according to McGonagall.Fred and George approach and walk along with Ron and Harry.Fred: Hey, well done, Harry, Wood's just told us!Ron: Fred and George are on the team, too. Beaters.George: Our job is to make sure that you don't get bloodied up too bad. Can't make any promises, of course. Rough game, Quidditch.Fred: Brutal. But no one's died in years. Someone will vanish occasionally... {They break off from Harry and Ron, who walk across a courtyard.George: But they'll turn up in a month or two!!Ron: Oh, go on, Harry, Quidditch is great. Best game there is! And you'll be great, too! {Hermione jumps up from her work and comes to join them.}Harry: But I've never even played Quidditch. What if I make a fool of myself?Hermione: You won't make a fool of yourself. It's in your blood.Scene: The three approach a trophy case. Hermione points at a plaque of Quidditch players. One lists Harry's father as a Seeker.Ron: Whoa. Harry, you never told me your father was a Seeker, too.Harry: I-I didn't know.

Scene: The three are walking up a staircase. A railing pulls in...Hermione looks, but continues walking.Ron: I'm telling you, it's spooky. She knows more about you than you do.Harry: Who doesn't?The staircase shudders and begins to move. The three grab the railings.Ron: Ahh!Hermione: {Gasps.}Harry: What's happening?Hermione: The staircases change, remember? {The staircase stops, in a new place.}Harry: {taps Ron} Let's go this way.Ron: Before the staircase moves again. {They all open a door and walk into a spooky, dark room.}Harry: Does anyone feel like...we shouldn't be here?Hermione: We're not supposed to be here. This is the 3rd floor. It's forbidden.Suddenly, a flame lights on a tall stone support. At that moment, the caretaker's cat, MRS. NORRIS, comes running in and meows. The group jumps.Harry: Let's go.{meow}Ron: It's Filch's cat!Harry: Run!The group runs. Flames are lit as they go. They get to the end of the corridor, to a door. Harry grabs the handle, but it's locked.Harry: It's locked!Ron: That's it, we're done for!Hermione: Oh, move over! {pushes through and pulls out wand} Alohomora. {The door opens.} Get in. {They bustle in.}Ron: Alohomora?Hermione: Standard book of spells, Chapter 7.Filch appears at the start of the corridor with a light. Mrs. Norris looks at him.Filch: Anyone here, my sweet? {meow} Come on. {exit.}Hermione: Filch is gone.Ron: Probably thinks this door's locked.Hermione: It was locked.Harry: And for good reason. {Ron and Hermione turn to stand with Harry. There is a massively huge three headed dog sleeping in front of them. The dog, FLUFFY, begins to wake. It growls, yawns, and growls more...noticing the intruders.}All: AHHHHHHH! {The three bolt, running out of the door. They turn quickly to shut the door and battle against the dog. They get the door shut and run.}Scene:Back in the Gryffindor room. They are breathless.Ron: What do they think they're doing?? Keeping a thing like that locked up in a school.Hermione: You don't use your eyes, do you? Didn't you see what it was standing on?Ron: I wasn't looking at its feet! I was a bit preoccupied with its heads. Or maybe you didn't notice, there were three! {they begin to climb the stairs to the dorms.}Hermione: It was standing on a trap door. Which means it wasn't there by accident. It's guarding something.Harry: Guarding something?Hermione: That's right. Now, if you two don't mind, I'm going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed...or worse, expelled! {turns and leaves, shutting the door to her dorms.}Ron: She needs to sort out her priorities!Harry nods.Scene: Outside, day time. Oliver and Harry appear, carrying a trunk. They put it down.Oliver: Quidditch is easy enough to understand. Each time has seven players, 3 chasers, 2 beaters, 1 keeper and a seeker that's you. There are three kinds of balls. {picks up a red one} This one's called the Quaffle. Now, the chasers handle the Quaffle and try to put it through one of those three hoops. {Points to a faraway Quidditch pitch.} The keeper, that's me, defends the hoops. {throws ball to Harry.} With me so far?Harry: {throws back} I think so. What are those? {points to two squirming chained down balls.}Oliver: ...You better take this. {hands Harry a small bat. He bends down and releases one ball. With an angry growl, it flies off into the air. The two boys watch it.} Careful now, it's comin' back. {The balls comes whizzing down, and Harry cracks at it with the bat. The ball soars off through a statue.} Eh, not bad, Potter, you'd make a fair beater...Uh-oh. {The ball zooms down, and Oliver grabs it, wriggling to get it back in the box. He succeeds and is out of breath.} Bludger. Nasty little buggers. But the only ball I want you to worry about is this...the Golden Snitch. {hands Harry a walnut sized golden ball.}Harry: I like this ball.Oliver: Ah, you like it now. Just wait. It's wicked fast and damn near impossible to see.Harry: What do I do with it?Oliver: You catch it...before the other team's seeker. You catch this, the game is over. You catch this,

Potter, and we win.{The ball flutters out two delicate wings and jumps into the air. Harry keeps an eye on it.}Harry: Whoa.Scene: PROFESSOR FLITWICK's class. The teacher is very short, and is standing on a bunch of books.Flitwick: One of a wizard's most rudimentary skills is levitation the ability to make objects fly. Uh, do you all have your feathers? {Hermione raises hers.} Good. Now, uh, don't forget the nice wrist movement we've been practicing, hmm? The swish and flick. Everyone. {All} The swish and flick. Good. And enunciate. Wingardium Leviosa. Off you go then.Draco: Wingardium Levio-saaa.{All practice.}Ron: Wingardrium Leviosar. {whacks with wand numerous times.}Hermione: Stop, stop, stop. You're going to take someone's eye out. Besides, youre saying it wrong. It's Leviosa, not Leviosar.Ron: You do it then if you're so clever. Go on, go on.Hermione straightens up and swishes her wand.Hermione: {crisply} Wingardium Leviosa. {The feather glows and lifts up. Ron puts his head on his books dejectedly.}Flitwick: Oh, well done! See here, everyone! Ms. Granger's done it! Oh, splendid!Seamus begins swishing at his feather.Seamus: Wingard Levosa. Wingard Levosa. {Flitwick to Hermione: Well done, dear.}BOOOM!!! Seamus' feather explodes. Flitwick gasps.Flitwick: Whooaaa! Ooh.Harry: I think we're going to need another feather over here, Professor.Scene: Neville, Harry, Ron and Seamus are walking through a courtyard with other students all around.Ron: It's Leviosa, not Leviosar. Honestly, she's a nightmare. No wonder she hasn't got any friends!Hermione bustles past, sniffling.Harry: I think she heard you.Scene: Night, in the great hall. It is Halloween. Everyone is eating candy, and Jack O'Lanterns are keeping the place lit. There is chatter.Harry: Where's Hermione?Neville: Parvati Patil said that she wouldn't come out of the girl's bathroom. She said that she'd been in there all afternoon...crying.{Ron and Harry exchange glances. Suddenly, Professor Quirrell comes flying into the room, screaming.}Quirrell: TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON! T-TROOLLL IN THE DUNGEON!! {stops and there is utter silence.} Thought you ought to know. {falls over in a dead faint.}The room is silent, and then everyone freaks, screaming and running.Dumbledore: SILLLLLEEENNNNCEEEEE! {Everyone stops.} Everyone will please, not panic. Now, Prefects will lead their houses back to the dormitories. Teachers will follow me to the dungeons.Girl: Hufflepuff, this way!Boy: Stay together!Snape looks aghast, and he disappears through a doorway.Scene: Percy is leading the house down a hall.Percy: Gryffindors...keep up please. And stay alert!Harry: How could a troll get in?Ron: Not by itself. Trolls are really stupid. Probably people playing jokes. {Suddenly, Harry stops and pulls Ron aside.} What?Harry: Hermione! She doesn't know!The two run off, down corridors. They start running down a hall when they stop, because there is a grunting noise. Harry pulls Ron into a doorway and a large, ugly TROLL thunks by into a room.Harry: He's going into the Girl's Bathroom!Scene: In the bathroom, Hermione emerges from a stall, wiping her eyes. She stops when she sees something. The troll is standing there. Hermione backs up, into the stall just as the troll raises its club and smashes the top part of the stalls. Hermione screams. Harry and Ron come bursting in.Harry: Hermione, move!The troll smashes the remaining stalls.Hermione: Help! Help! {The boys start throwing wood pieces at the troll.}Ron: Hey, pea brain! {Ron throws wood and hits the troll on the head. Hermione escapes from the stalls to under a sink, but the troll sees her and goes to smash her. It cracks the sink and barely misses Hermione. Harry cringes.}Hermione: Ahhh! Help!Harry gets out his wand. He runs forward and grabs the troll's club, and is lifted up.Harry: Whooa! Whoa, whoa! {He lands on the troll's head, and is hurled forward, then back, and his wand goes up the troll's nose.}Ron: Ew.The troll snorts, and whips around.Harry: Whoa, whoa whoa!The troll gets Harry off its head and is holding him by one leg, upside

down. It gears up its club and swipes at Harry. He pulls himself up, then down. The troll swipes again.Harry: Do something! {swipe}Ron: What? {swipe}Harry: Anything! Hurry up!Ron grabs his wand. Under the sink, Hermione waves her hand.Hermione: Swish and flick!Ron: Wingardium Leviosa! {flick. The club is lifted out of the troll's hand and hovers above its head. The troll looks up, confused, just as the club comes crashing back down. (Ron: Cool.) It hits the troll's head and the troll wavers, then drops Harry, who crawls away, and comes crashing down, hard.Hermione approaches carefully.Hermione: Is it...dead?Harry: I don't think so. Just knocked out. {He grabs his wand...which is covered in goo.} Ew. Troll bogies.Suddenly, McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell come rushing in.They all gasp.McGonagall: Oh! Oh, my goodness! E-Explain yourselves, both of you!Ron and Harry: Well, what it is...Hermione: It's my fault, Professor McGonagall. {The teachers, and Ron and Harry, gape}McGonagall: Ms. Granger?Hermione: I went looking for the troll. I'd read about them and thought I could handle it. But I was wrong. If Harry and Ron hadn't come and found me...I'd probably be dead.McGonagall: Be that as it may...it was an extremely foolish thing to do. {Harry looks at Snape's leg...which has a large cut on it. Snape notices and covers it up, glaring at Harry.} I would have expected more rational behaviour on your part, Ms. Granger. 5 points will be taken from Gryffindor for your serious lack of judgment. As for you two gentlemen I just hope you realize how fortunate you are. Not many students could take on a full grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale. 5 points...will be awarded to each of you. For sheer dumb luck. {Snape and McGonagall exit.}Quirrell: Perhaps you ought to go...M-might wake up...heh. {Exit Ron and Harry and Hermione.} {Troll roars.} Ahh! Hehe....Scene: The next morning, in the great hall. The gang is sitting, eating. Harry is twirling his food on a fork.Ron: Take a bit of toast, mate, go on.Hermione: Ron's right, Harry. You're gonna need your strength today.Harry: I'm not hungry.Snape appears.Snape: Good luck today, Potter. Then again, now that you've proven yourself against a troll, a little game of Quidditch should be easy work for you...even if it is against Slytherin. {Leaves, limping.}Harry: That explains the blood.Hermione: Blood?Harry: Listen, last night, I'm guessing Snape let the troll in as a diversion so he could try and get past that 3 headed dog. But, he got himself bitten, that's why he's limping.Hermione: But why would anyone go near that dog?Harry: The day I was at Gringotts, Hagrid took something out of one of the vaults. He said it was Hogwarts' business, very secret.Hermione: So you're saying...Harry: That's what the dog's guarding. That's what Snape wants.{An owl screeches. It is Hedwig. She is carrying a very large, long parcel. She drops it off.}Hermione: Bit early for mail, isn't it?Harry: But I-I never get mail.Ron: Let's open it.{They open it.}Harry: It's a broomstick! Ron: Thats not just any broomstick, Harry. It's a Nimbus 2000!Harry: But who...?{He sees Professor McGonagall up at the head table, stroking Hedwig. She smiles and Harry nods.}Scene: Inside a Quidditch tower. The Gryffindor team is marching towards the starting gate. They reach it and stop, behind a closed double door.OIiver: Scared, Harry?Harry: A little bit.Oliver: That's all right. I felt the same way before my first game.Harry: What happened? Oliver: Er, I don't really remember. I took a bludger to the head 2 minutes in. Woke up in the hospital a week later.Harry gulps and looks straight ahead as the doors open. They mount their brooms and zoom out onto the enormous pitch. There is cheering. The commentator, LEE JORDAN, is talking from a tower.Lee: Hello, and welcome to Hogwarts' first Quidditch game of the season! Today's game Slytherin versus Gryffindor!!!{Cheering. Close-up of Gryffindor students. They are cheering. Neville: Gryffindor!}The players take their positions in the air in a circle. Harry weaves in, highest

amongst. He looks down.Lee: The players take their positions as Madam Hooch steps out onto the field to begin the game.Hooch: Now, I want a nice clean game...from all of you. {looks at Slytherin. She kicks the trunk, and the bludgers zoom out.}Lee: The bludgers are up...followed by the Golden Snitch. Remember, the snitch is worth 150 points. The seeker who catches the Snitch ends the game.The snitch zooms around each Seeker's head, then disappears. Hooch grabs the Quaffle.Lee: The Quaffle is released...and the game begins!Gryffindor takes possession of the ball and a chaser, ANGELINA JOHNSON, zooms past Slytherins towards their goal, and throws the ball, and scores! There is a ding.Lee: Angelina Johnson scores! 10 points for Gryffindor! {He presses a button and a 10 shows up beside a plaque with Gryffindors name.}Harry, in the air, claps.Harry: Yes! {a bludger zooms by him.} Whoa!In the stands, Gryffindor cheers.Hagrid: Well done!Lee: Slytherin takes possession of the Quaffle. Bletchley passes to Captain Marcus Flint.Flint dodges people and throws for the Gryffindor hoops. Oliver appears and whacks the ball away with his broom. He smirks at Flint, who glares. Johnson and KATIE BELL pass the Quaffle back and forth as they strategize to score. Johnson takes it, throws, and once again scores!Ron and Seamus: Yay!Harry: Yes!Lee: Another 10 points to Gryffindor! {ding.}Gryffindors: Yay!The Slytherins decide to get messy. They dodge, kick, and try to score. Once again, Oliver blocks.Flint: Give me that! {he grabs a beaters bat from one and whacks a bludger right at Oliver. It hits Oliver in the stomach and he falls to the ground.}Crowd: {Booing}Harry is visibly upset.Slytherin laughs.The Slytherin members head off. One jumps over George (or Fred) and scores. Harry is upset again. Slytherin cheers.Flint: {to other members} Take that side!They box Johnson in and sent her into the capes covering one of the towers. She falls down in and is out. The crowd boos. Slytherin scores once again. Suddenly, Harry sees the Snitch. He starts to head off after it and then his broom starts bucking and turning.Harry: Whoa! Whooa!Hagrid: What's going on with Harry's broomstick?Hermione looks through binoculars at Harry, then at Snape, who is muttering something.Hermione: It's Snape! He's jinxing the broom!Ron: Jinxing the broom? What do we do?Hermione: Leave it to me. {She hands Ron her binoculars and leaves.}Harry is knocked around, then falls, dangling by one arm from the broom.Ron: Come on, Hermione!Hermione is hurrying up a tower. She appears underneath Snape and touches his cloak with her wand.Hermione: Lacarnum Inflamarae.A spark ignites and Snape's cloak catches fire. Hermione leaves.Man: Fire! You're on fire!Snape: What? Oh! {knocks the man back, who falls into Quirrell, who then also falls. Snape bats out the fire and acts as though nothing happened. The broom stop bucking, and Harry climbs back on. The Slytherin seeker is after the Snitch. Harry takes off.}Ron: Go!Hagrid: Go go go!Harry rams the Slytherin Seeker, then is butted out. He returns, smashing the Seeker again as the Snitch dives. The boys follow, but they approach the ground quickly. The Slytherin Seeker backs out, and Harry pulls up his broom as he follows the Snitch, feet above the ground. Harry stands up, and steps forward, trying to grab the ball. He goes too far, and topples off the broom with a yelp, tumbling on the ground. He gets up and lurches.The crowd gasps. Hermione appears beside a tower to see.Hagrid: Looks like he's gonna be sick!Harry lurches and the Snitch pops out of his mouth. It lands in his hands.Lee: He's got the Snitch! Harry Potter receives 150 points for catching the Snitch!Hooch: {Blows whistle} Gryffindor win!All: YAY!Draco: No!Hagrid: Yes!Hermione: Whoo-hoo!McGonagall: {Giggles happily}Harry raises the Snitch into the air and the crowd, and his team, cheers.Crowd: Go go Gryffindor! Go go Gryffindor! Go go Gryffindor! Go go Gryffindor!

Scene:

Harry, Hermione and Ron are walking along a path with Hagrid, talking.

Hagrid: Nonsense. Why would Snape put a curse on Harry's broom?

Harry: Who knows. Why was he trying to get past that 3 headed dog on Halloween?

Hagrid: Who told you 'bout Fluffy?

Ron: Fluffy? Hermione: That thing has a name?

Hagrid: Well, of course he's got a name. He's mine. I bought him off an Irish feller I met down at the pub last year. Then I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the

Harry: Yes?

Hagrid: Shouldn'ta said that. Don't ask any more questions. That's top secret, that is.

Harry: But Hagrid, whatever Fluffy's guarding, Snape's trying to steal it!

Hagrid: Codswallop. Professor Snape is a Hogwarts teacher.

Hermione: Hogwarts teacher or not, I know a curse when I see one. I've read all about them. You have to keep eye contact. And Snape wasn't blinking.

Harry: Exactly.

Hagrid: {sighs} Now, you listen to me, all three of you. You're meddlin' in things that ought not to be meddled in. It's dangerous. What that dog is guarding is strictly between Professor Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel.

Harry: Nicholas Flamel?

Hagrid: I shouldn't have said that. I should not have said that. I should not have said that. {Exit.}

Harry: Nicholas Flamel...Who's Nicholas Flamel?

Hermione: I don't know.

Scene: Christmas. The camera pans up to a snowy castle, then to Hagrid, who is bringing in a large tree. Inside the great hall, students are leaving and ghosts are singing (Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, ring the Hogwarts bell. Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas...) Hermione approaches the empty tables, wheeling a cart. She goes to Ron and Harry, who are playing chess.

Harry: Knight to E-5.

A piece moves across the board.

Ron thinks for a moment.

Ron: Queen to E-5.

A queen walks over to E-5 and clinks the knight away.

Hermione: That's totally barbaric!

Ron: That's wizard's chess. I see you've packed.

Hermione: See you haven't.

Ron: Change of plans. My parents decided to go to Romania to visit my brother, Charlie. He's studying dragons there!

Hermione: Good. You can help Harry, then. He's going to go the library for information on Nicholas Flamel.

Ron: We've looked a hundred times!

Hermione: Not in the restricted section...Happy Christmas. {exits.}

Ron: I think we've had a bad influence on her.

Scene:

X-mas morning. Hedwig is perched in the boys' room, and Harry is asleep in bed.

Ron: {calling from downstairs} Harry, wake up! Come on Harry, wake up!

Harry gets up and runs to a balcony overlooking the common room, where Ron is standing next to a tree. He is wearing a sweater with an R on it.

Ron: Happy Christmas, Harry.

Harry: Happy Christmas, Ron. What are you wearing?

Ron: Oh, Mum made it for me. Looks like you've got one too!

Harry: I've got presents?

Ron: Yeah!

Harry: Oh! {Harry runs down the stairs.}

Ron: There they are. {Ron sits on a couch arm and eats jelly beans as Harry picks up a silver wrapped package. Harry takes out the card.}

Harry: "Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well."

Harry opens the present. It is a cloak.

Ron: What is it?

Harry: Some kind of...cloak.

Ron: Well, let's see then. Put it on.

Harry puts the cloak on, and all of him disappears except for his head.

Ron: Whoa!

Harry: My body's gone!

Ron: I know what that is! That's an invisibility cloak!

Harry: I'm invisible??

Ron: {gets up} They're really rare. I wonder who gave it to you.

Harry: {comes over} There was no name. It just said, "Use it well."

Scene:

Late at night. A lantern and hand appear, but nothing else. The ensemble walk through the dark library and into the Restricted Section. The lamp is put down, and the cloak removed. Harry appears.

Harry: {Reading books} Famous fire eaters...15th Century Fiends...Flamel...Nicholas Flamel...where are you?

Harry picks up a book and opens it. A man's face appears.

Man: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Harry slams the book shuts and puts it back.

Filchs voice: Who's there?! {Harry whips around, grabbing his cloak. The lamp falls and shatters.} I know you're in there. You can't hide. {Harry puts on his cloak and creeps around Filch.} Who is it? Show yourself!

Harry runs from the room, breathing heavily. He gets into the hall, where Mrs. Norris is. The cat meows and begins to follow him. Harry runs around a corner, just as Snape and Quirrell appear. Snape pushes Quirrell into the wall.

Quirrell: Severus...I-I thought...

Snape: You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell.

Quirrell: W-what do you m-mean?

Snape: You know perfectly well what I mean. {Snape senses something. Harry stops breathing. Snape reaches out to grab something, but doesn't. He whips his finger back in front of Quirrell's face.} We'll have another chat soon...when you've had time to decide where your loyalties lie.

Filch appears, carrying the broken lamp.

Filch: Oh, Professors. I found this, in the Restricted Section. It's still hot. That means there's a student out of bed.

They all dart off. A door opens, and closes. On the other side, there is a vast, empty room that has a large mirror in the center. Harry appears and walks over to the mirror. In it, he sees two people appear.

Harry: Mum? {the woman nods and smiles} Dad? {nods and smiles. Harry reaches out to touch them, but only gets the mirror. Then, his mother puts her hand on his shoulder. He puts his own hand on his own shoulders, as if trying to feel her there.

Scene:

The boys' room. Harry comes whipping in, invisible.

Harry: Ron! You've really got to see this! Ron! You've got to see this! {pulls back covers. Ron wakes up.} Ron, Ron, come on. Get out of bed!

Ron: Why?

Harry: There's something you've got to see. Now, come on!

Scene:

Back in the mirror room. Harry and Ron appear as if magically and Harry runs to the mirror.

Harry: Come on. Come. Come look, it's my parents!

Ron: I only see me.

Harry: {moves over} Look in properly. Go on. Stand there. There. You see them, don't you? Thats my dad

Ron: That's me! Only, I'm head boy...and I'm holding the Quidditch cup! And bloody hell, I'm Quidditch Captain too! I look good. Harry, do you think this mirror shows the future?

Harry: How can it? Both my parents are dead. {Harry smiles sadly.}

Scene:

Another night. Harry is sitting in front of the mirror. Dumbledore appears behind him.

Dumbledore: Back again, Harry? {Harry turns around and stands up.} I see that you, like so many before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised. I trust by now you realize what it does. Let me give you a clue. The happiest man on earth would look into the mirror and see only himself, exactly as he is.

Harry: So, then it shows us what we want? Whatever we want?

Dumbledore: Yes...and no. It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desires of our hearts. Now you, who have never known your family, you see them standing beside you. But remember this, Harry. This mirror gives us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away in front of it, even gone mad. That is why tomorrow it will be moved to a new home, and I must ask you not to go looking for it again. It does not do to dwell on dreams, Harry, and forget to live. {Harry looks back at the mirror.}

Scene:

Daytime. It is all snowy. Harry is out in a main courtyard, bundled up, with Hedwig on his arm. He stops and she lifts off, soaring away into the sky. When she returns, it is spring time.

Scene:

In the library. Harry and Ron are seated, reading. Hermione comes up with a huge book. She thumps it onto the table. Harry jumps.

Hermione: I had you looking in the wrong section! How could I be so stupid? I checked this out a few weeks ago for a bit of light reading.

Ron: This is light?

Hermione: {glares} Of course! Here it is! "Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone!"

Ron and Harry: The what?

Hermione: Honestly, don't you two read? "The Philosopher's Stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It will turn any metal into pure gold and produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal."

Ron: Immortal?

Hermione: It means you'll never die.

Ron: I know what it means!

Harry: Shh!

Hermione: "The only stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicholas Flamel, the noted alchemist, who last year celebrated his 665th birthday!" That's what Fluffy's guarding on the 3rd floor. That's what's under the trapdoor...the Philosopher's Stone!

They all look at each other.

Scene:

Nighttime. Hermione, Ron and Harry are running across the wet ground to Hagrids hut. They knock on the door and it opens.

Harry: Hagrid!

Hagrid: {clad in oven mitts and an apron} Oh, hello. Sorry, don't wish to be rude, but I'm in no fit state to entertain today. {Closes door.}

All 3: We know about the Philosopher's Stone!

{Door reopens.}

Hagrid: Oh.

{They all come into Hagrid's small hut.}

Harry: We think Snape's trying to steal it.

Hagrid: Snape? Blimey, Harry, you're not still on about him, are you?

Harry: Hagrid, we know he's after the Stone. We just don't know why.

Hagrid: Snape is one of the teachers protecting the Stone! He's not about to steal it!

Harry: What?

Hagrid: You heard. Right. Come on, now, I'm a bit preoccupied today.

Harry: Wait a minute. {Ron and a big black boarhound, FANG, meet. Fang sniffs Ron.} One of the teachers? Hermione: {sitting in a large chair} Of course! There are other things defending the Stone, aren't there? Spells, enchantments.

Hagrid: That's right. Waste of bloody time, if you ask me.

{Hermione looks at Ron, who is being sniffed in the face by Fang. Ron shuffles away.} Ain't no one gonna get past Fluffy. Hehe, not a soul knows how. Except for me and Dumbledore. I shouldn't have told you that. I shouldn't have told you that. {A cauldron over a fire begins to rattle.} Oh! {Hagrid hurries over and grabs something} Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! {puts the thing, an egg, on the table. The group crowds around.}

Harry: Uh, Hagrid, what exactly is that?

Hagrid: That? It's a ... its um...

Ron: I know what that is! But Hagrid, how did you get one?

Hagrid: I won it. Off a stranger I met down at a pub. Seemed quite glad to be rid off it, as a matter of fact.

The egg rattles and cracks. Pieces fly off as a dragon emerges. It squeaks and slips on an egg piece.

Hermione: Is that...a dragon?

Ron: That's not just a dragon. That's a Norwegian Ridgeback! My brother Charlie works with these in Romania.

Hagrid: Isn't he beautiful? Oh. Bless him, look. He knows his mummy. Hehe. Hallo, Norbert. {The dragon squeaks as it looks at Hagrid.}

Harry: Norbert?

Hagrid: Yeah, well, he's got to have a name, doesn't he?

Ron: {laughs}

Hagrid: Don't you, Norbert? {raises fingers back and forth across Norberts chin} Dededede.

Norbert backs away, hiccups and blows a fireball of fire into Hagrid's beard.

Hagrid: Ohh! Oooh, ooh, ooh, well...he'll have to be trained up a bit, of course. {Norbert hiccups. Hagrid sees someone looking in the window.} Who's that? {The person scampers away.}

Harry: Malfoy.

Hagrid: Oh, dear.

Scene:

The three are walking back through a corridor. An owl screeches.

Harry: Hagrid always wanted a dragon. He told me so the first time I met him.

Ron: It's crazy. And worse, Malfoy knows.

Harry: I don't understand. Is that bad?

Ron: It's bad.

They stop as McGonagall, in her nightgown, appears.

McGonagall: Good evening.

Malfoy appears smugly beside her.

Scene:

McGonagall's classroom. The three accused are standing in front of McGonagall's desk, while Malfoy is feet away, smirking.

McGonagall: Nothing, I repeat, nothing gives a student the right to walk about the school at night. Therefore, as punishment for your actions, 50 points will be taken.

Harry: 50?!

McGonagall: Each. And to ensure it doesn't happen again, all four of you will receive detention.

Malfoy nods, then his smile vanishes.

Draco: Excuse me, Professor. Perhaps I heard you wrong. I thought you said..."the four of us."

McGonagall: No, you heard me correctly, Mr. Malfoy. You see, as honorable as your intentions were, you too were out of bed after hours. You will serve detention with your classmates.

Harry, Ron and Hermione grin, and Draco sags.

Scene:

Outside, at night, the four students are being led to Hagrid's hut by Mr. Filch.

Filch: A pity they let the old punishments die. There was a time detention would find you hanging by your thumbs in the dungeons. God, I miss the screaming. {Draco gulps, and Hermione rushes by.} You'll be serving detention with Hagrid tonight. He's got a little job to do inside the dark forest. {Hagrid appears with a crossbow. He sniffles.} A sorry lot this, Hagrid. Oh, good God, man, you're not still on about that bloody dragon, are you?

Hagrid: {sniffs and sighs} Norbert's gone. Dumbledore sent him off to Romania to live in a colony.

Hermione: Well, that's good, isn't it? He'll be with his own kind.

Hagrid: Yeah, but what if he don't like Romania? {Filch rolls eyes.} What if the other dragons are mean to him? He's only a baby, after all.

Filch: Oh, for Gods sake, pull yourself together, man. You're going into the forest, after all. Got to have your wits about you.

Draco: The forest? I thought that was a joke! We can't go in there. Students aren't allowed. And there are...{a howl sounds}...werewolves!

Filch: There's more than werewolves in those trees, lad. You can be sure of that. {Draco looks frightened.} Nighty-night. {Exit.}

Hagrid: Right. Let's go.

Scene: In the forest. The group walks along a path to a tree. Hagrid stops, bends down and dips his fingers in a silver puddle. He pulls out his fingers and rubs them together. A silver trail smears with his fingers.

Harry: Hagrid, what's that?

Hagrid: What we're here for. See that? That's unicorn's blood, that is. I found one dead a few weeks ago. Now, this one's been injured bad by something. {Harry suddenly sees a large cloaked figure walking through the trees. He looks at Hagrid.} So, it's our job to find the poor beast. Ron, Hermione, you'll come with me.

Ron: {weakly} Okay.

Hagrid: And Harry, you'll go with Malfoy. {Draco grimaces, and Harry nods.}

Draco: Okay. Then I get Fang!

Hagrid: Fine. Just so you know, he's a bloody coward. {Fang whines.}

Scene:

Harry and Draco are walking through the forest, Fang leading. Draco has the lamp.

Draco: You wait till my father hears about this. This is servant's stuff.

Harry: If I didn't know better, Draco, I'd say you were scared.

Draco: Scared, Potter?! {Scoffs} {howl} Did you hear that? Come on, Fang. Scared.

Scene:

The group approaches a flat ground with gnarled roots all over. Fang stops, then growls.

Harry: What is it, Fang?

Up ahead, a cloaked figure is crouched over a dead unicorn, drinking its blood. The figure raises its head, silver blood dripping from its mouth.

Harry gasps and grabs his scar, which is hurting.

Draco: {A look of pure fear} AHHHHHHHHH!!! AHHH! {runs away, with Fang} HELP!!!!!

Harry is left by himself. The figure slides over the unicorn and rises erect. It advances towards Harry, who backs up, but trips. He crawls backwards. Suddenly, there is the sound of hoofbeats. A figure leaps over Harry and lands near the cloaked figure. It is a silver centaur, FIRENZE. It rears, and the cloaked figure retreats, flying away.

Firenze: Harry Potter, you must leave. You are known to many creatures here. The forest is not safe at this time. Especially for you.

Harry: {rises} But what was that thing you saved me from?

Firenze: A monstrous creature. It is a terrible crime to slay a unicorn. Drinking the blood of a unicorn will keep you alive even if you are an inch from death. But at a terrible price. You have slain something so pure that the moment the blood touches your lips, you will have a half-life. A cursed life.

Harry: But who would choose such a life?

Firenze: Can you think of no one?

Harry: Do you mean to say...that that thing that killed the unicorn...that was drinking its blood...that was Voldemort?

Firenze: Do you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?

Harry: The Philosopher's Stone.

Suddenly, a dog (Fang) barks. Harry looks up and sees Hagrid, Hermione, Ron and Draco appear.

Hermione: Harry!

Hagrid: Hello there, Firenze. I see you've met our young Mr. Potter. You all right there, Harry? {Harry nods}

Firenze: Harry Potter, this is where I leave you. You're safe now. Good luck.

{Close up on the dead unicorn.}

Scene:Gryffindor common room. Right after 'attack.' The group is around the fire. Hermione and Ron are seated, but Harry stands.Hermione: You mean, You-Know-Who's out there, right now, in the forest?Harry: But he's weak. He's living off the unicorns. Don't you see? We had it wrong. Snape doesn't want the stone for himself, he wants the stone for Voldemort. With the Elixir of Life, Voldemort will be strong again. He'll He'll come back. {Sits down.}Ron: But if he comes back, you don't think he'll try to kill you, do you?Harry: I think if he'd had the chance, he might have tried to kill me tonight.Ron: {Gulp} And to think, I've been worrying about my Potions final!Hermione: Hang on a minute. We're forgetting one thing. Who's the one wizard Voldemort always feared?{The boys shrug.} Dumbledore! As long as Dumbledore's around, you're safe. As long as Dumbledore's around, you can't be touched. {Harry smiles slightly.}Scene:Some time later. In the outdoor courtyard. The three are walking.Hermione: I've always heard Hogwarts' end of the year exams were frightful, but I found that rather enjoyable.Ron: Speak for yourself. All right there, Harry?Harry: My scar. It keeps burning.Hermione: It's happened before.Harry: Not like this.Ron: Perhaps you should see the nurse.Harry: I think it's a warning. It means dangers coming. Uhh! {He rubs scar and then sees Hagrid across the field, at his hut.} Oh. Of course! {runs for hut.}Hermione: What is it?Harry: Don't you think it's a bit odd that what Hagrid wants more than anything is a dragon, and a stranger shows up and just happens to have one? {They approach Hagrid, who is playing the Harry Potter theme on his flute.} I mean, how many people wander around with dragon eggs in their pockets? Why didn't I see it before? Hagrid, who gave you the dragon egg? {Hagrid stops playing.} What did he look like?Hagrid: I don't know. I never saw his face. He kept his hood up.Harry: The stranger, though, you and he must have talked.Hagrid: Well, he wanted to know what sort of creatures I looked after. I told him. I said, "After Fluffy, a dragon's gonna be no problem."Harry: And did he seem interested in Fluffy?Hagrid: Well, of course he was interested in Fluffy! How often do you come across a three headed dog, even if you're in the trade? But I told him. I said, "The trick with any beast is to know how to calm him. Take Fluffy, for example, just play him a bit of music and he falls straight to sleep."The three gape.Hagrid: I shouldn't have told you that. {The three take off.} Where you going?! Wait!Scene:McGonagall's classroom. The three come tearing in and run up the aisles between desks. They pass a ghost and stop at the desk.Harry: We have to see Professor Dumbledore, immediately!McGonagall: I'm afraid Professor Dumbledore is not here. He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and left immediately for London.Harry: He's gone?! Now? But this is important! It's about...the Philosopher's Stone.McGonagall: {shocked} How do you knowHarry: Someone's going to try and steal it.McGonagall: I don't know how you three found out about the stone, but I can assure you it is perfectly well-protected. Now would you go back to your dormitories? Quietly. {They leave.}Scene:After exiting McGonagall's class, they walk down the hallway.Harry: That was no stranger Hagrid met in the village. It was Snape, which means he knows how to get past Fluffy.Hermione: And with Dumbledore gone{Snape suddenly appears behind them}Snape: Good afternoon. Now, what would three young Gryffindors such as yourselves be doing inside on a day like this?Hermione: Uh...we were just...Snape: You want to be careful. People will think you're {Harry glares madly at Snape, who looks shocked} up to something. {Exit.}Hermione: Now what do we do?Harry: We go down the trapdoor. Tonight.Scene: Nighttime. In the Gryffindor Common Room. The three friends come down the stairs and begin to walk across the floor. They stop when they hear croaking.Harry: Trevor.Ron: Trevor shh! Go, you shouldn't be here!Neville: {appears behind a chair} Neither should

you. You're sneaking out again, arent you?Harry: Now, Neville, listen. We wereNeville: No! I won't let you! {stands} You'll get Gryffindor in trouble again! I-I'll fight you. {holds out fists.}Hermione: Neville, I'm really, really sorry about this...{takes out wand} Petrificus Totalus.Neville is frozen and falls backwards onto the ground. Hermione puts her wand back.Ron: {Gulp} You're a little scary sometimes...you know that? Brilliant, but scary.Harry: Let's go. {Walks by Neville} Sorry.Hermione: Sorry.Ron: It's for your own good, you know. {Exit.}Scene: The three are under the Invisibility cloak, sneaking along the corridor.Hermione: Ow! You stood on my foot!Ron: Sorry. {A flame lights. Hermione draws out her wand and points it at the door.}Hermione: Alohomora.The door opens and they go in.Ron: Wait a minute...he's....{a blow of air, and the cape flutters off them.} Sleeping.Harry: Snape's already been here. He's put a spell on the harp. {They approach the sleeping dog.}Ron: Uh. It's got horrible breath!Harry: We have to move its paw.Ron: What?!Harry: Come on! {grabs paw, which is blocking the door.} Okay. Push! {They strain and move it. They open the door.} I'll go first. Don't follow until I give you a sign. {Fluffy's eyes open.} If something bad happens, get yourselves out...Does it seem a bit...quiet?Hermione: The harp. It stopped playing.Drool from one head comes down on Ron's shoulder.Ron: Ew! Yuck! Ugh. {All three kids look up and see Fluffy standing there. Fluffy barks and growls, thrashing. It breaks the harp and dives at the three.}Harry: Jump! Go! {They all jump through the trapdoor.}Ron: Ahh! {gasps as he lands on some mushy black ropelike vines.} Whoa. Lucky this plant-thing is here, really.Harry: Whoa! {The plant begins to move towards them.} Oh. Ahh! {The plant ties them up.}Hermione: Stop moving, both of you. This is Devil's Snare. You have to relax. If you don't, it will only kill you faster.Ron: Kill us faster?! Oh, now I can relax!Hermione manages a smile as she is sucked down below.Ron and Harry: Hermione!!Ron: Now what are we gonna do?!Hermione's voice: Just relax!Harry: Hermione! Where are you?!Hermione (from below): Do what I say. Trust me.Harry relaxes and is sucked through.Ron: Ahh! Harry!Harry falls through and lands on the hard ground. Hermione goes over to him and he stands up.Ron: Harry!Hermione: Are you okay?Harry: Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.Ron: Help!Hermione: He's not relaxing, is he?Harry: Apparently not.Ron: Help! Help me!Hermione: We've got to do something!Harry: What?Hermione: Uh! I remember reading something in Herbology. {Ron: Help!} Um Devil's Snare, Devil's Scare, {The snare shuts Ron's mouth} it's deadly fun...but will sulk in the sun! That's it! Devil's Snare hates sunlight! {takes out wand and points upwards.} Lumus Solem! {A beam of light shoots out. The Snare shrieks and recoils. Ron falls below.}Ron: Ahhh!Harry: Ron, are you okay?Ron: Yeah.Harry: Okay.Ron: {stands} Whew. Lucky we didn't panic!Harry: Lucky Hermione pays attention in Herbology.There is a sound.Hermione: What is that?Harry: I don't know. Sounds like wings.They enter into a room filled with golden "birds."Hermione: Curious. I've never seen birds like these.Harry: They're not birds, they're keys. And I'll bet one of them fits that door. {They come upon a broomstick, suspended in the air.}Hermione: What's this all about?Harry: I don't know. Strange.{Ron creeps over to the door and takes out his wand.}Ron: {rattles lock.} Alohomora! {Shrugs} Well, it was worth a try.Hermione: Ugh! What're we going to do? There must be 1000 keys up there!Ron: We're looking for a big old fashioned one. Probably rusty like the handle.Harry: There! I see it! {points} The one with the broken wing! {He looks at the broom.}Hermione: What's wrong, Harry?Harry: It's too simple.Ron: Oh, go on, Harry! If Snape can catch it on that old broomstick, you can! You're the youngest seeker in a century!Harry nods and grabs the broom. All the keys suddenly go one direction, right at Harry. He climbs on, swiping at them.Ron: This complicates things a

bit!Harry pushes off into the air. He flies off, after the key. The others follow him. Harry grabs the key.Harry: Catch the key!He zooms by and throws the key to Hermione, who catches it and heads for the lock while Harry distracts the other keys. Hermione puts it in the lock.Ron: Hurry up!The door opens, and Hermione and Ron rush through, followed by Harry. They shut the door just as the keys slam up against it.Scene:They enter a dark room, with broken pieces all around it.Hermione: I don't like this. I don't like this at all.Harry: Where are we? A graveyard.Ron: This is no graveyard. {sighs} It's a chessboard. {Walks out onto the marble board and flames light, illuminating the board and GIANT players. Harry and Hermione come up with him.}Harry: There's the door.They walk across the board, towards the door. Suddenly, as they reach a line of pawns, the pawns bring up their swords. The three jump and back up.Hermione: Now what do we do?Ron: It's obvious, isn't it? We've got to play our way across the room. All right. Harry, you take the Bishop's square. Hermione, you'll be the Queen's side castle. As for me, I'll be a knight. {They all take their places.}Hermione: What happens now?Ron: {aboard a horse.} Well, white moves first, and then...we play. {A pawn on the other side moves forward. Ron studies the game.}Hermione: Ron, you don't suppose this is going to be like...real wizard's chess, do you?Ron: You there! D-5! {A black pawn moves forward, diagonal to the white pawn. The white pawn raises its swords and smashes the black one. The three jump.} Yes, Hermione, I think this is going to be exactly like wizard's chess!The game continues. Pieces smash each other, boom! Boom!Ron: Castle to E-4! Smash! Ron: Pawn to C-3! Smash! Boom! The Queen turns, and smashes a piece! Harry, Ron and Hermione wince. The Queen turns again. Both Ron and Harry study the game.Harry: Wait a minute.Ron: You understand right, Harry. Once I make my move, the Queen will take me...then you'll be free to check the King.Harry: No, Ron! No!Hermione: What is it?Harry: He's going to sacrifice himself!Hermione: No, Ron, you can't! {Ron closes his eyes.} There must be another way!Ron: {turns to face Hermione.} Do you want to stop Snape or not? Harry, it's you that has to go on. I know it. Not me, not Hermione, you. {Harry nods.} Knight...to H-3.Ron's horse moves forward, slides and stops.Ron: Check.The Queen turns and advances. Ron breathes faster, clutching the steel reins. The Queen stops. SMASH! Ron goes flying off the horse and lands on the floor, unconscious.Ron: Ahhhh!Harry: RON! {Hermione starts walking to him.} NO! Don't move! Dont forget, we're still playing. {Hermione moves back. Harry walks the diagonal in front of the King.} Checkmate. {The Kings sword falls onto the ground victory. Harry breathes out and then the two run to Ron. They bend beside him.} Take care of Ron. Then, go to the owlery. Send a message to Dumbledore. Ron's right...I have to go on.Hermione: You'll be okay, Harry. You're a great wizard, you really are.Harry: Not as good as you.Hermione: {smile} Me? Books and cleverness? There are more important things. Friendship, and bravery. And Harry, just be careful.Harry nods and stands, walking away.

Scene:Harry walks down a long staircase to an empty room with pillars around it. The Mirror of Erised is in the middle of the room, and a man is standing before it. It is Quirrell. Harry yelps and grabs his scar.Harry: You? {Quirrell turns around.} No. It can't be...Snape. He was the oneQuirrell: Yes. He does seem the type, doesn't he? Next to me, who would suspect, "p-p-poor s-stuttering Professor Quirrell?"Harry: B-but, that day, during the Quidditch Match, Snape tried to kill me.Quirrell: No, dear boy. I tried to kill you! And trust me, if Snape's cloak hadn't caught fire and broken my eye contact, I would have succeeded. Even with Snape muttering his little counter-curse.Harry: Snape was trying to...save me?Quirrell: I knew you were a danger right from the off. Especially after Halloween.Harry: Th-then you let the troll in.Quirrell: Very good Potter, yes. Snape, unfortunately, wasn't fooled. While everyone else was running to the dungeon, he went to the 3rd floor to head me off. He, of course, never trusted me again. He rarely left me alone. {Quirrell turns back to the mirror and Harry's scar hurts.} But he doesn't understand. I'm never alone. Never. Now...what does this mirror do? I see what I desire. I see myself holding the stone. But how do I get it?{A raspy voice, VOLDEMORT, calls.}: Use the boy.Quirrell: Come here, Potter, now!Harry walks forward shakily.Quirrell: Tell me. What do you see?Harry looks in the mirror. He sees himself. His mirror self brings his hand into his pocket and takes out a red stone! The mirror self winks and puts the stone back. Very subtly, Harry reaches to his pocket. There is a lump. He gasps.Quirrell: What is it?! What do you see?!Harry: I-I'm shaking hands with Dumbledore. I've won the house cup.Voldemort's voice: He lies.Quirrell: Tell the truth! What do you see?!Voldemort's voice: Let me speak to him.Quirrell: Master, you are not strong enough.Voldemort's voice: I have strength enough for this. {Quirrell unwraps his turban and on the side opposite his face, another face is planted. It is Voldemort who appears kind of like a snake. He stretches out and faces Harry via the mirror.} Harry Potter. We meet again.Harry: Voldemort.Voldemort: Yes. You see what I have become? See what I must do to survive? Live off another. A mere parasite. Unicorn blood can sustain me, but it cannot give me a body of my own. But there is something that can. Something, that conveniently enough, lies in your pocket!Harry turns and runs.Voldemort: Stop him! {Quirrell snaps his fingers and fire erupts all around the room. Harry is stuck.} Don't be a fool! Why suffer a horrific death when you can join me and live?!Harry: {shakes his head} Never!Voldemort: Haha. Bravery. Your parents had it too. Tell me, Harry, would you like to see your mother and father again? Together, we can bring them back. {In the mirror, Harrys parents faces appear.} All I ask for is something in return. {Harry takes the stone from his pocket.} That's it, Harry. There is no good and evil. There is only power, and those too weak to seek it. Together, we'll do extraordinary things. Just give me the stone! {Mother and father vanish.}Harry: You liar!Voldemort: Kill him!Quirrell soars into the air and smashes into Harry, one hand on Harrys throat. They fall to the steps. The stone falls out of Harry's reach as Quirrell chokes him. Harry strains and squeaks. Suddenly, Harry puts his hand on Quirrell's, trying to get him off. Smoke furls from under his hand.Quirrell: Ahh! Ahh! {backs up. His hand is crumbling into a mountain of black ash.} What is this magic? {hand dissipates.}Voldemort: Fool! Get the stone!Quirrell: {Walks forward, but Harry puts both hands on his face.} Ahhhhhhhhhh!Quirrell backs up, then his face, which is horrendously burned, crumbles as he walks forward. His whole body is ash. He falls to the floor. Harry gasps. He looks at his own hands and hurries over to the stone. He picks it up and sighs, when he hears something. Turning, Harry sees a dust clouds with Voldemort's face. The cloud rushes forward, right through

Harry!Voldemort: Arrrhhhhhh!Harry: Ahhhhhhhhh! {Voldemort flies away. Harry falls to the ground, unconscious. He holds the stone in an outstretched hand.}Scene:The hospital wing. Harry is bandaged, lying in bed. He awakens, puts on his glasses, and sits up. There are cards and candy all over. Dumbledore approaches him.Dumbledore: Good afternoon, Harry. Ah. Tokens from your admirers?Harry: Admirers?Dumbledore: What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows. {Both smile.} Ah, I see your friend Ronald has saved you the trouble of opening your Chocolate Frogs.Harry: Ron was here? Is he all right? What about Hermione? Dumbledore: Fine. They're both just fine.Harry: But, what happened to the Stone?Dumbledore: Relax, dear boy. The stone has been destroyed. My friend Nicholas and I had a little chat and agreed it was best all around.Harry: But Flamel, he'll die, won't he?Dumbledore: {sits on the bed.} He has enough Elixir to set his affairs in order. But yes, he will die.Harry: How is it I got the Stone, sir? One minute I was staring in the mirror, and the next...Dumbledore: Ah. You see, only a person who wanted to find the Stone, find it, but not use it, would be able to get it. That is one of my more brilliant ideas. And between you and me thats saying something. {Smile both.}Harry: Does that mean, with the Stone gone, I mean, that Voldemort can never come back?Dumbledore: Ah, I'm afraid there are ways in which he can return. Harry, do you know why Professor Quirrell couldn't bear to have you touch him? {Harry shakes his head.} It was because of your mother. She sacrificed herself for you, and that kind of act leaves a mark. {Harry touches his scar.} No, no, this kind of mark cannot be seen. It lives in your very skin.Harry: What is it?Dumbledore: Love, Harry, love. {Pats Harry's head and stands up.} Ah. Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. I was most unfortunate in my youth to come across a vomit flavoured one, and since then I have lost my liking for them. But I think I could be safe with a nice toffee...{takes brown bean and eats it.} Mm. Alas. Earwax.Scene:Harry approaches a room where up on a stairwell balcony Hermione and Ron are talking. They stop when they see Harry and lean over the railing.Harry: All right there, Ron?Ron: All right? You?Harry: {shrug} All right. Hermione?Hermione: {smile} Never better.Scene:In the great hall. All students are seated, and green banners with snakes on them are around the ceiling.Dumbledore, at the head table, nods to McGonagall.She dings her glass and the chatter stops. Dumbledore rises.Dumbledore: Another year gone. And now, as I understand it, the house cup needs awarding, and the points stand thus. In fourth place, Gryffindor with 312 points. {Clapping. Harry and Hermione hide their heads.} Third place, Hufflepuff, with 352 points. {Clapping.} In second place, Ravenclaw, with 426 points. {Clapping.} And in first place, with 472 points, Slytherin House.There is immense cheering.Students: Whoo! Yeah!Draco: Nice one, Mate! {sees Ron looking at him and sneers.}Dumbledore: Yes, yes, well done Slytherin, well done Slytherin. However, recent events must be taken into account. And I have a few last minute points to award. {The Gryffindor students look up.} To Miss Hermione Granger, for the use of cool intellect when others were in great peril, 50 points. {Applause.}Harry: {Pats} Good job.Dumbledore: Second, to Mr. Ronald Weasley, for the best played game of chess {Ron looks at Harry and mouths, 'Me?' Harry nods, and mouths, 'You!'} that Hogwarts has seen these many years...50 points. {Applause} And third, to Mr. Harry Potter, for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house 60 points. {Immense cheering.}Hermione: We're tied with Slytherin!Dumbledore: And finally, it takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends. I award 10 points to Neville Longbottom.Immense cheering erupts. Neville is unbelieving, and sits there while cheering

gets louder. Draco is downfallen.Dumbledore: Assuming that my calculations are correct, I believe that a change of direction is in order. {Claps. The green banners change to Gryffindor red and yellow.} Gryffindor wins the House Cup!Cheering.Hagrid: Yes! {grins}All students stand and throw their hats into the air, except Draco, who smashes his down onto the table.Seamus: Neville! {Shakes his hand.}All rub each other's hair and jump around, cheering and laughing.Lee: Yeah! We won!! {Jumps with Harry, who looks back and grins very widely.}Scene:The outdoor train station. Students are walking around, getting in the train.Hagrid: Come on now, hurry up. You'll be late. Train's leaving. Go on. Go on. Come on. Hurry up.Harry hands Hedwig to a train man, and walks to an open door of the train with Hermione. Hermione waves to Hagrid, who waves back. Hermione gets in the train.Hermione: Come on, Harry.Harry: One minute. {He walks over to Hagrid.}Hagrid: Thought you were leaving without saying good-bye, didja? {Hagrid takes a red album out of his coat pocket and hands it to Harry.} This is for you.Harry opens the album and sees a picture, moving, of him as a baby with his parents. They are all smiling and waving. Harry smiles.Harry: Thanks, Hagrid. {Shakes Hagrid's hand, then hugs him tightly.}Hagrid: Oh. Go on...on with you. {Harry lets go.} Oh, listen, Harry, if that dolt of a cousin of yours, Dudley, gives you any grief, you could always, um, threaten him with a nice pair of ears to go with that tail of his.Harry: But Hagrid, we're not allowed to do magic away from Hogwarts. You know that.Hagrid: I do. But your cousin don't, do he? Eh? {chuckle} Off you go.Harry walks away, back to the train door where Hermione and Ron are waiting.Hermione: Feels strange to be going home, doesn't it?Harry: I'm not going home. Not really.The train whistles and they climb aboard. As the train starts to leave and the camera pans up over the whole scene, Harry waves out the window to Hagrid, who waves back and then waves more to other students as the camera pans far back, then the credits begin.

omg. everyone is going to hate me for flooding the dash. i KNOW i’m gonna lose a follower from this. but yknow what? harry potter is love and harry potter is life.