HOL

Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix Word Crawl!

Don’t know what a crawl is? No problem! It's esentially a writing board game: you write from one instruction to the next to create a story of 300 words or more and it can be about absolutely anything (you don’t have to stick to the Harry Potter theme in any way).
If you’d like to share your story, you’ll earn 20 beans and it will count towards your chance of earning one of our shiny quill and ink awards. You can post it below or if you’re uncomfortable sharing publically but would still like it to count, you can email it to us at hol.bookclub @ gmail.com (without spaces) with the subject line Crawl-Theme-HOL Name. There is no deadline, though if you want to scoop that award, we’ll need it by the end of that particular school year.

Now, without further ado, let’s equip ourselves with quills and embark on a rescue mission….

You squeeze into the phone box and dial the number.
*Begin your story* (Bonus: try to do it with a number (perhaps a date or time))

You make your way down to the dark corridor that has haunted your dreams
*write your first 50 words as quickly as you can while you dash down to the Department of Mysteries*

You find yourself in the circular entry way and try to pick a door. Before you can, the room spins and disorientates you entirely.
*Write 20 words while you regain your feet and get your bearings* (Bonus: take your story in a direction contrary to the one you were planning to)

You pick a door as best you can and find yourself confronted by the eerie sight of something floating in tanks. Is it a Fish? Is it an Aquavirius Maggot? No, it’s a brain!
*Write 30 words while you are entranced and then finish saying 'ew ew ew'*

You retreat into the entryway, outsmarting the furiously spinning room by marking the door behind you. The next door you choose leads into a huge, dank amphitheatre like space with an arch at its centre.
*Write 75 words while you strain to hear the whispers that seem to come from the other side of the fluttering black veil*

You drag yourself away and return to the circular room. The next door you try is very unhelpful and won’t yield to even your super cool unlocking knife (which is super cool no longer by the time you finish trying to open the door)
*Write 25 words while you come to accept defeat and finish ruining your property*

At last! One of the rooms you remember from your dreams. You slowly cross it, watching a bird magically grow, then return to the egg.
*Write 50 words while you cross the glimmering room and discover the source of the mysterious ticking noise* (Bonus: manipulate time and include a flashback, time jump or flash forward)

You finally find yourself in the huge, cathedral-like space and race up and down the aisles, looking for the cause of your impulsive quest.
*Write your last 50 words while you dash about*

You discover no godfather but a mysterious crystal sphere with your name on it. Impulsively you lift it down and weigh it in your hand.
*Leave a record of your prosaic efforts on the shelves of the Book Club and share your story with us*

One morning the alarm clock started to buzz. Charlie woke up and looked at his alarm clock. It was eight o’clock in the morning. It was time for Charlie to get up and go to school before it became too late. After all, if he was late just once more his parents told him that they would send him to Saint Brian, which was an awful boarding school that hit there students when they acted up. However, Charlie didn’t care he thought that if he went to this awful school it surely couldn’t be as bad as all the stories his parents told him about it. In fact, he thought if he went away maybe, he would get away from his annoying parents who he hated very much. However, all the stories his parents told him about the school were true. Soon he would find this out for himself.

He arrived at Saint Brian’s around dinnertime. However, before dinner Charlie was brought into the fitting room where he was given an itchy school shirt and some very baggy slacks to wear. Then he was marched into a cold room with only wooden benches and wooden tables to eat at. There he was given gruel and forced to eat every last drop of it. Next he was marched to a bedroom that he would be sharing with ten other boys around his age. Finally, he was left alone. Charlie crawled into his bed still clothed in his new school uniform and laid there thinking about his past and wishing he didn’t take his parents warning so lightly. Sadly, he couldn’t change what he had done. Charlie was now stuck there until he became eighteen. So, he went to sleep thinking about what he would have to endure starting the next morning.

It was late of the evening, nearing 10 o'clock when two boys rushed out of the store and scrambled down the street. I saw them from the corner of my eye and decided to follow them to see what they were up to and why they were in a hurry. Rushing after them, I saw them take a left turn and slow down then they suddenly disappeared from my sight.

Turning back the way I came, I heard a loud noise, like a clanging, coming from an alleyway to my right. I peered down it before making my way there. Slowly I walked, taking very careful steps, before something scurried across my path. I jumped back before I saw it to be a large rat with beady, scarlet red eyes. I gulped and continued on my way towards the noise. It still clanged in the distance, but I was getting closer and closer to discovering what it was hiding in the shadows. Would it be dangerous? Maybe it's a cat. I hope it's a cat.

I had finally reached the clanking and took a deep breath to ready myself to open the lid of the bin it was coming from. But I couldn't do it. My mind flashed forward thinking of all the possibilities of being attacked by a rabid animal or something even scarier like a secret weapon hidden away. I paused as I saw myself attacked by robot clones from space, their green lasers firing every which way.

I shook my head back in the present moment thinking that there was no way that could possibly be the case. Robot clones don't exist. Or do they? I shuddered again and reached out opening the lid. To my relief, a kitten meowed inside and I smiled amusingly at him.