A DEPRESSING FEAT WAS THE END OF SUMMER. At least, many students saw it that way. It was the end of freedom from many burdens and unwarranted woes. The little joys that so many treasured such as the welcome lack of school work, warm days accompanied by fun in the sun, days that grew longer with each evening until the sun was out almost for an annoying duration, sleeping in as long as pleased, and the ability to go anywhere desired.

By getting on the Hogwarts Express, all of that was diminished into daydreams. A plethora of homework and early mornings were creeping up on all of the Hogwarts students. A horrible reality that so many shuddered at.

All except Blythe McKinley.

She had been working tirelessly. Not a single day of her summer vacation went unproductive. While there was little schoolwork she needed to tend to, she dedicated her time to preparing for The Tortured Poets Department. As president, it was her duty to ensure that the upcoming cycle of their work went over flawlessly.

This was the last measure she had prepared for the most successful of seasons. She sat adjacent to her boyfriend, Dean Thomas, and across from Astrid Carnegie and Seamus Finnegan aboard the Hogwarts Express. Dean and Seamus being the outgoing duo that they were chatted happily across the table whilst Astrid read quietly and Blythe worked away.

Astrid did not ask Blythe any questions regarding what she was up to and working so fervently on. She just read and minded her own business. Blythe would tell her soon enough.

"Astrid," Blythe suddenly said getting up from the table with haste and a smile. "Would you care to help me pass these out to the department?"

Astrid looked down at the stack of cards that resembled muggle IDs in Blythe's ink-stained toffee hands. "What are they?"

"Something that will help us stay punctual. Merlin knows that we had absence problems last semester," Blythe split the stack in half and gave Astrid her portion. Her voice was laced with heavy annoyance that may or may not have been internally directed at Armaan Kumar, Kieran Sinclair, and Ben Jones.

"Neat," Astrid murmured as she examined her own card that was atop the stack.

It was exactly like a muggle ID. It was a rectangular plastic card that had a small square photo of herself in a corner alongside her name, grade, house, and position in the club. There also was the new club logo that Ben had whipped up for last semester's final paper. At the bottom of the card bore the date of their next meeting and its location.

With that, they excused themselves from the Gryffindor boys and headed out to find their fellow tortured poets.

Cecilia, Kieran, and Armaan were quite simple to find as they tended to sit wherever the fellow fifth-year Gryffindors were. Due to the Gryffindor noise level, that was never difficult to locate.

Cecilia thought the cards to be a wonderful idea and praised Blythe endlessly. "This is brilliant! You've really outdone yourself! I see that we're meeting tonight after dinner?"

"That's right," Blythe nodded curtly, brushing a loose strand of her brown waves from her face.

Ron Weasley craned his head to look at the card. "Can I come?"

"No," Blythe, Astrid, and Cecilia all stated in a simultaneous cold manner.

Ron opened his mouth to complain. "So, Cece, you're telling me, your own best friend, I'm practically your brother-"

"That's laying it on thick don't you think?" Astrid interjected which earned her a glare from Ron and a chuckle from Harry and Hermione.

Ron paid her comment no mind and continued as if it had never been made. "That my banishment is permanent?"

Cecilia rolled her eyes. "Yes, Ron. Your banishment is absolutely permanent and under no circumstances will you ever join our meetings. You almost ruined our final paper!"

Blythe and Astrid quickly lost interest in the bantering of the Golden Quartet and moved on to the neighboring compartment. Armaan and Kieran sat alongside Katie Bell and Lee Jordan.

They both glanced down at the cards, the only thing being prominent was the meeting date.

Kieran's eyes looked as if they were going to pop from his head. "Blythe, you're kidding. We're meeting today?! It's not even the first day of school! We're exhausted!"

Blythe's expression was emotionless. "That sounds like a you kind of problem. Be there. We have work we need to do."

Armaan sighed heavily and stared at the card with malice.

Kieran shook his head, resting his face upon his fist woefully. His voice was whiny. "It appears summer was only a fortnight."

Astrid pursed her lips, "There's the start to your next poem." The two girls left again without a single word. They did not care for the complaints of the department.

The rest of the department simply took the cards and thanked her. Most appeared annoyed at the sudden date yet did not fight Blythe on it.

Yet, as they all entered their school-granted classroom around eight o'clock at night, they were sure to voice their displeasure. Ben Jones sat atop a desk and shook his head, "There better be a good reason that I'm here right now."

Kate Myth, the most blunt and simultaneously patient of them all sighed. "Yes, I do agree. It is rather late. I was hoping to make you all cookies for our first meeting."

The group all groaned and grumbled when she said that. Nothing beat Kate's cookies. And they had been deprived of such a joy.

Blake huffed and aggressively sat in a nearby chair, her blonde hair slightly in disarray, "Damn it, I could totally go for some of those right now too."

Kate looked at her frustrated peers. "I can make some for our next meeting!"

Priya tapped her fingers against the desk she was sitting at and noticed Blythe's unenthused expression. "Guys, maybe we should listen to Blythe's explanation. I'm sure it's reasonable."

"Bien sûr! There is always a good reason for depriving people of beauty rest," Annalise Fontaine grinned, sarcasm dripping from her French accent. She was slightly annoyed that, as she was Vice President, Blythe had run nothing by her.

Ben opened his mouth to join in on the discussion.

Cecilia noticed and shook her head. She stood before the department, not giving Ben the chance to speak. "The more you all complain and run your mouths, the more time we have to be here. We all elected Blythe to be president so for Merlin's sake, let's listen to her. She worked all summer for us and this department."

Ben sighed and ran his hand through his dark hair for he knew the chairwoman was right. "Yeah, Cece's right, guys. Let's shut up."

The department all ceased their complaints and Blythe was finally able to speak. She cleared her throat. "As you each can tell, we are in a different room than we usually are. I was able to negotiate with Professor McGonagall, that due to our popularity last semester, we needed our own space to work and continue to serve the Hogwart's community. She surprisingly agreed and granted us this space."

Annalise looked around the room, her face scrunched. It was dusty and nearly abandoned. "This is our room?"

Blythe nodded.

"It seriously needs to be cleaned up," Mabel muttered as she poked around the bookshelves. There was so much dust and grime. She would not be surprised if there was some sort of infestation.

"Yes, luckily, McGonnagall said that we may do with it what we will. We just need to be able to take all of our belongings out around summertime," Blythe explained, her face still unenthusiastic.

"Having a space is great and all but this is one hell of a fixer-upper," Emserey commented as she got up to explore the room.

"Maybe," Frankie gasped, pulling on Ben's arm enthusiastically, "We can get typewriters!! How cool would that be!!"

"I like that idea," Yulian Fitzroy nodded.

"Sure, but who uses typewriters anyway? Where would we even find enough of those?" Aarman crossed his arms, unsure of the idea.

"Well, we are The Tortured Poets Department," Esmerey reasoned with the treasurer. "That is rather befitting of us. I don't know where we would find them but it would be nice."

"I think there may be some at Hogsmeade," Yvonne pointed out from her seat beside her brother.

"We need to clean this place up first," Ciaran dragged his finger against a counter and showed the dust that coated it to the group. They all murmured in quiet agreement.

"Let's take shifts," Mabel suggested. "Each day a few of us can come in and clean, organize, and decorate."

"That's a great idea," Cecilia agreed with a smile. "Perhaps, Blake, as the secretary, you could draw up a schedule for us?"

"On it," The Gryffindor nodded enthusiastically with a smile.

Blythe was eager to keep the meeting moving. Godric knows how long the group could converse over decorative arrangements. "Since that is being dealt with, let's move on to the actual paper. We were a ginormous hit last semester with the Triwizard Tournament and now there is even more going on in the world. We must stay active and retain the same quality of work alongside gaining more momentum. That being said, the teachers are watching us this year. We are not allowed to fail any of our courses. If you fail a single course this semester, you will be ineligible for the department. That is unfortunately straight from McGonnagall. It will be a challenge."

A few of the department members grimaced at the new ruling. It was surely more enjoyable to tend to new works for the department all whilst blowing off schoolwork.

Frankie raised her hand before she spoke to which Blythe nodded in her direction. "When do we want the first issue out? And what topics are we honing in on?"

Annalise commented quickly, "I vote we write about the entire Dumbledore versus the Ministry of Magic debacle. It's what everyone wishes to read about."

Cecilia's shoulders tensed and Annalise was sure to explain her thought more thoroughly. "Excuse-moi. That came out too harsh. Not in a demeaning manner, of course. More so diving into the complexities of belief, disbelief, and fear. We should try to capture everyone's emotions regardless of how they feel."

"Now that's a good idea," Esmerey smiled to which the entire department nodded in agreement.

Blythe looked at her pocket calendar. "Let's get the first issue out by next Friday. You can come in and use this space whenever you please. We'll meet this Friday to begin organizing everyone's work. Blake will have the cleaning schedules to you shortly."

Everyone nodded and murmured in agreement. There appeared to not be much else to speak on.

"So that's a 'yes' on the typewriters?" Frankie asked once the department had stood silent for a moment. Ben chuckled as he found her quite adorable and endearing.

Kate laughed as did a few other members, "I don't see why not!"

"We can look for those and other things at the next Hogsmeade trip," Ciaran suggested to which everyone agreed.

Armaan still sat puzzled. "Again, who uses those in the wizard world? I've only ever seen parchment and quills."

"Yes but I'm sure someone uses them somewhere," Astrid attempted to reason. "I'd be shocked if they weren't someplace in Hogsmeade."

Despite their complaints about the late meeting, the department ended up chatting with one another until ten at night. They conversed over numerous topics that ranged from their summer vacations, love lives, to later plans for the club. Blythe had to be the one to send them all off to bed.

They surely had their work cut out for them this year but they could not have been happier over it.

~~~

AURORA'S MESSAGE 🩷

Surprise! Here's a double chapter!!

I apologize if it is a tad short. I will be going on vacation and won't be able to write for a week or two so I really just wanted to get the department together and leave off at a good place so that I can pick up easily when I return.

I hope that you all enjoyed! I can't wait to keep this story going!!

Much love 💕

(ps: did you guys see what I did with the ✌️👀)