<center><h1>Young Wizards</h1></center>
you don't know much about (link:"harry potter.")[harry potter, but everyone else in your class (link:"does.")[does, or at least pretends they do.]] all you know is that you have to pick a side. your (link:"friends")[classmates, most of whom you've known for years,] are running around, yelling strange words that you assume are spells at each other.
(link:"you walk up to the playground.")[you walk up to the playground. on either side of the vast world of sand and possiblity is a team planning their strategy of attack in one of the (link:"play structures.")[play structures. suddenly, familiar buildings have become unrecognizable, towering landmarks.] do you run over to the [[big play structure on the left->good]] or [[the further, smaller play structure on the right->evil]]?]you climb up the structure to find harry, ron, and hermione at the top. you've stumbled across the (link:"secret hideout")[secret hideout (you think they said something about a hog?)] of the "good guys". they're planning what spells they'll use to defeat (link:"he-who-shall-not-be-named.")[he-who-shall-not-be-named. it's a good thing they call him that, because you would've forgotten his name anyways]
"which team are you on?" asks hermione.
[[pretend to know what you're talking about]].
[[admit that you just got there]]ten minutes ago, you and your friends were in a classroom solving math problems. but as you run across the playground, you see that your friends have become wizards, dueling in the ultimate fight between good and evil.
on the other side of the playground, you reach the secret lair of the "bad guys". atop the spire sits (link:"she-who-shall-not-be-named")[she-who-shall-be-named, who has taken the physical form of one of your (link:"closest friends at the time")[closest friends at the time (the one who invited you to join the game!)],] and only her most trusted allies. you interrupt the conversation -- (link:"she-who-shall-not-be-named")[voldemort (she taught you the name: "it's okay to say it because we're evil")] and the death eaters planning which spells they would use to take over the world -- to ask if you can play.
(link:"she-who-shall-not-be-named")[voldemort] asks what character you want to be.
[[admit that you don't know any characters]]."i'm a good guy," you respond.
"who are you? like what character?" hermione stays true to her (link:"character.")[character, one of the few you know anything about.] she knows everything that's happening and seems to be running the game.
[[uhhhh...]]"there's too many people on the good side, you have to be evil," remarks the girl playing hermione, breaking character to (link:"invite you into the game.")[invite you into the game. you've always felt a bit alienated from your classmates who transformed the playground into worlds of their own creation, but you've always (link:"tried")[tried -- and usually failed --] to join.
but this time, everyone was playing. even the group of boys who spent every second they could on the basketball courts, training to be the next nba all stars, had traveled through platform 9-and-three-quarters and ended up on the playground.]
[[no time to waste -- to the evil secret base!->evil]]the only characters you know are the three sitting right in front of you. your attempt to answer the question becomes a weak "i'm a good guy?"
"there's too many people on the good side, you have to be evil," remarks the girl playing hermione, breaking character to (link:"invite you into the game.")[invite you into the game. you've always felt a bit alienated from your classmates who transformed the playground into worlds of their own creation, but you've always (link:"tried")[tried -- and usually failed --] to join.
but this time, everyone was playing. even the group of boys who spent every second they could on the basketball courts, training to be the next nba all stars, had traveled through platform 9-and-three-quarters and ended up on the playground.]
[[no time to waste -- to the evil secret base!->evil]]voldemort announces to all that can hear that you are now a death eater. just like that, you've been welcomed into the (link-reveal:"inner circle.")[ somehow, this story about wizards has not only transformed your school into a world of magic, but it's transformed your friendships as well.]
she presents you with a packet of papers: a complicated spreadsheet of all the (link-reveal:"spells.")[ you've seen this passed around in class, but now you hold the power of the spellbook.]
"you can only cast real spells, so make sure you know what you're doing," she tells you.
"oh yeah!" exclaims another death eater, "you also need a wand. without a wand you can't cast spells!"
not even ten seconds later, the packet is ripped from your hands by another death eater looking for a spell. they run off to fight some of the hogwarts students. hopefully you'll remember one of the spells when you need it most...
[[try to chase the death eater with the spellbook]]you jump off the structure and land in the cushioning sand below. you feel a twinge of pain in your ankle, but the familiar sights and sounds of the playground you've known your whole life remind you that you'll be okay if you just run it off.
you begin to scramble around the playground in search of the spellbook, but one of your friends from the other side notices (link-reveal:"which team you're on.")[ any friendship you had before the war is forgotten, for this is a fight between light and darkness.]
the hogwarts student chases you with his wand, yelling (link-reveal:"\"serpensortia!\"")[ -- a spell that throws a snake at your opponent --] over and over again. as you dodge and weave your way around the battlefield, narrowly avoiding all of the snakes flying your way, you realize that you know one spell now! the spellbook doesn't matter anymore, [[time to go find a wand!]]you make your way to the back side of the playground, a secluded spot behind an oddly placed (link:"cement tunnel.")[cement tunnel.
the tunnel was about five feet tall, and the inside was big enough to fit about seven people sitting side by side. it was a nice shady spot to hang out on the playground, but nobody knows how it got there. one day we showed up to school, and there was a giant cement tunnel on our playground. despite our initial hesitance (nobody knew if we were allowed to play on it), it quickly became our favorite thing on the (link-reveal:"playground.")[ (link-reveal:"(it's still there!)")[ well, at least it (link-reveal:"was.")[
the whole playground was actually torn down a few years ago to build a new stem building. it's a beautiful building, but my mental map of the school will always have the sand playground in its place. it was the stage that breathed life into our imaginations. the structures became sky scrapers and secret hideouts, the swings became airplanes and busses, and the weird spinning things would... well, we would always find a place for the weird spinning things.
but you can't see the future! you're still (link-reveal:"looking for a wand!")[
a large tree hangs over this area, and as you expected there is an abundance of sticks on the ground. you carefully look through the pile and select your (link-reveal:"wand.")[ it's the perfect wand -- a stick that's just the right length. your (link:"fellow death eaters")[friends] tell you something about having the core of a phoenix or the hair of a unicorn, but those things don't matter -- you get to join your new friends in the fight against good! [[it's time to join the battle.]]]]]]]]
as you emerge from behind the tunnel, the war rages on around you. wizards on both sides frantically cast spells at one another, retreating to their secret bases when they need to recover.
with your wand in hand and your one spell memorized, you are now ready to assert yourself as the most powerful, most evil wizard to ever live! you strike fear in the hearts of your enemies as you chase them around, yelling "serpensortia!" over and over again to cast snakes in their direction.
suddenly, an unfortunate yet familiar noise rings across the battlefield. the bell.
it's time for class.
enemies shake hands and help each other up off the ground as the battlefield becomes a playground once again. wands return to their primitive forms as sticks, and your friends leave behind the goofy voices they used for their characters. the war is over for today, but who knows what [[tomorrow->the beginning -- playground entrance]] holds?
↶↷Young Wizards
you don't know much about harry potter. all you know is that you have to pick a side. your friends are running around, yelling strange words that you assume are spells at each other.
you walk up to the playground.