Hey! Thanks to everyone who has decided to continue reading the story. For people who don't know, this is the fourth book of our series, Hogwarts School Years(We know it's not the best title). We suggest you read Hogwarts School Years 1 through 3 first(Year 1 will be edited). Anyways, hope you enjoy it. This year will be even crazier then the last.
Warning! OCs and Swearing
DISCLAIMER: WE DO NOT OWN ANYTHING THAT HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE ORIGINAL STORY OF HARRY POTTER! IT ALL BELONGS TO J.K ROWLING. RICE KRISPIES DO NOT BELONG TO US AND WE ALSO DO NOT OWN THE BRAND ARMANI.
Natalie's POV
I look out my family car's window, watching the beautiful scenery pass by. Currently, we're on our way to Michelle's house as we do every year. In a few days, we're getting on the Hogwarts Express and going to our second home. The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"So Natalie. If anything happens, make sure to owl us as soon as possible." Mom gives me a look through the front mirror of the car. I sigh. They have been like this ever since they had gotten wind of my uh...coma and near death at the warehouse. But strangely, they look oddly happy once I told them I had gotten my memories back prior to the whole memory loss incident.
Mom continues to hold her intense gaze at me, pupils literally drilling holes into me. "Natalie." she urges.
"I will mom. Don't worry." I try to reassure her.
"That's what you've said to me for the last three years, sweetie." Mom just had to point out. "Keep this up and I might just have to hire Brian to look after you as a bodyguard or something."
My eyes widen. What!? "Mom!" I yell. "I'll be fine without him watching me like some kind of stalker." I cross my arms in front of my chest.
"He wouldn't be watching you like a stalker. You guys are friends anyway." She brushes my concerns off. Which didn't happen.
"You're not serious are you mom?" I ask.
"Maybe, maybe not." She answers vaguely with a glint in her eyes. That I didn't like at all. I huff and glare at her. She just smiles and reaches over and ruffles my hair lightly. "I'm just worried about you, sweetie. It's no secret that your years at Hogwarts so far have been anything but normal. I just want to make sure you're alright seeing I won't be there to look after you anymore." I give her a small smile back.
"Do you and Brian have something?" Dad inquires out of the blue. I choke on my spit. What's the deal with my parents today!?
"We're just friends, dad. JUST friends." I repeat, emphasizing a certain word to get my point across.
"Uh-huh..." He mutters and keeping his eyes on the road. After that, the topic of Brian didn't come up. Although, my parents keep sending glances at each other. I narrow my eyes at them. They're planning something that's not good for me at all.
I perk up as the sight of Michelle's house, more like mansion, comes into view. Our car goes into a gentle stop in front of the manor's gates. A crackle is heard before a voice speaks out.
"State your name and purpose." The voice demands coldly and with a monotone.
"We're the Xiang's. Here to drop off our daughter, Natalie with the Chang family." Mom replies.
"Ah yes." A loud click and the gates open with a flourish. "Enjoy your stay here and have a nice day." The security says warmly.
Dad takes a smooth turn into their grand driveway, pulling the car into a gentle halt under the shade of a tall tree. He turns and rests the palm of his hand again the back of the passenger seat where Mom was sitting upon. "Stay safe, alright?"
I smile and lean over to kiss them both on the cheek. "I'll do my best. I'll talk to you soon." With that, I tug the handle of the car door open and climb out. I wave my parents goodbye before making my way to the front door, but not before overhearing another car pulling up behind me.
I turn around, not surprised to see Tamara to be the one stepping out of the other car. I wave at her as she turns around after closing the car door. She gives a big smile and waves back at me.
"Hey, Nattie!" She calls out. I give her a flat look. How many times do I have to tell her to stop calling me that?
"Hi. Stop calling me that." I deadpan.
Tamara lets out a laugh before replying. "Aww come on. Don't be like that Nattie." I roll my eyes at her antics. She puts her arm around my shoulders. Tamara has definitely gotten taller, and still looks like she has pale skin. But now, she's gotten more of a lean frame. Her hair seems to be a little longer than the last time I saw her which was at the middle of her back. I wonder what Michelle and Jennifer look like now.
"Anyway, let's go in." she quips chirply, gently nudging me towards the main entrance of their house. Note I said main, there are still numerous doors that I'm still not aware of. I raise my hand in the air to knock when we hear screaming inside. Both of us look at each other. Should we...? Tamara nudges me to knock. But then all of a sudden, the large doors swing open violently, almost hitting us in the process.
A body comes flying towards us at breakneck speed but thankfully to our reflexes, we duck just in time.
"STAY THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE AND NEVER COME BACK!" A voice roars with pure rage and hatred. Uhhhhh...
"Is it a bad time right now...?" Tamara whispers, looking incredulous at the person who landed quite roughly on the ground in front of the porch. I fully turn around to see that it's Keith. The guy looks quite disgruntled, and is that a black eye? He groans in pain on the ground. Tamara and I just look at each other, not knowing what to do.
"Oh, it's you guys. Come on in." Michelle steps out, not sparing a glance at her childhood friend in the dirt.
"Uhhh..." Tamara says. "Okay..." Michelle nudges the both of us into the house. We're in the main entrance hall and set down our luggage. House elves apparate and begin taking our bags upstairs. We hear footsteps rushing up the porch steps.
"Wait! Michelle, I can explain!" Keith cries out desperately as we hear the front door open again. Michelle scoffs before going back to the entrance and slamming the door very hard at his face. A scream of pain erupts from outside.
"My freaking nose!"
Michelle just looks at us with an unreadable expression before breaking out into a serene smile. "Why don't you guys go into the living room? I'll be there in a minute." She says before heading off to the direction of the kitchen. One of her house elves trails behind her.
"Good job, Todd." I hear her murmuring quietly to the house elf.
"It's my pleasure, mistress."
Tamara and I go to the living room. Jennifer sits on the couch munching on her bag of miniature rice krispies like popcorn. "This has been my entertainment all summer. It's better than most movies and novels."
Tamara raises an eyebrow. What could have happened that would cause Michelle to treat Keith like how she would treat Lewis?
"What happened?" I ask curiously. Jennifer shrugs her shoulders and continues munching on her rice krispies.
"Looks like I'm not the only who hates him now." She replies nonchalantly. We all give each other a look. Whatever it is, it's got to be very big.
"How could you do that!?" A familiar voice screech, piercing my ear drums. Uh oh.
"I don't want to see his ugly, disgusting, revolting face anywhere near this place!" A gasp is heard from the triplet's oldest sister. "He is not! Keith is really hot!"
"What does that have to do with anything?" Michelle exclaims.
"You just called Keith ugly, that's why!" Melanie retorts.
I really wonder how Michelle and Milly are related to a person like that sometimes.
"Guys calm down..." A soft voice cuts in.
"CALM DOWN!" Both Michelle and Melanie shout at the top of their lungs. This is one of the few times I have seen that they're actually similar. Two of the triplets glare at each other.
"You annoy me so much!" Both of them snaps in unison.
"Stop copying me!" They both snarl at each other.
"If they're so concerned about that guy not being hot, they should just stick him into the oven and he'll be hot...and crispy." Jennifer snickers. "Though, he is nowhere close to being good as a rice krispy. Not even in his dreams."
"Why would he dream about being a good rice krispy?" Tamara asks, looking a little bit disturbed. Good question. I'm scared to know what Jennifer dreams of every night.
"Who wouldn't?" Jennifer blinks at us.
"Uhh...anyone that is normal?" I offer. Jennifer pouts and glares at me.
"Are you implying that I'm a weirdo?" She gives me a flat look. Then she brushes her longer bangs out of her eyes that had gotten dark circles. Even though she's sitting down, I can tell she had grown more. I wouldn't be surprised if she had been complaining all summer. I open my mouth to answer but get interrupted by a figure zooming by past us.
"Who threw the guy out of the door?" A childish voice asks, a little boy looking out one of the large windows.
"Stephen, say hi. Don't be rude." Jennifer scolds her little brother. Stephen turns toward us, blinking with an innocent expression. Those two really are alike. Unlike the ones that are still arguing in another room. I wonder if Garfield really had been visiting like he'd promised.
"Hi." He says before turning back to the window he was looking out from. Tamara blinks at him with a confused expression before brushing it off. I roll my eyes slightly at Jennifer's baby brother's behavior.
"How did he become this way..." Jennifer grumbles, chewing on her rice krispies irritatedly.
I see some blue boxes stacked up against the wall adorned with century old paintings. I peer at them closer. The boxes are covered in white and red stripes. A big giant title is on the boxes, reading 'SkyFlakes'.
"What's with the boxes?" I ask incredulous, pointing at the objects in question.
"Oh they're crackers that we got in Canada." Jennifer shrugs her shoulders.
"You went to Canada?" Tamara echoes.
"Yup. Nice place. Did you know that they're not actually a snowy country?" Jennifer asks excitedly.
"Well being a completely snow country is a stereotype. Most of Canada isn't covered in snow all the time. Maybe only the North." I reply.
"Oh!"
"What?" Tamara and I ask.
"Wait just a second." she replies before scrunching up the rice krispie bag and rushing upstairs. She comes back with three bottles in the shape of maple leafs. She hands me two and gives one to Tamara. "These are your souvenirs. You should really try it; it tastes great. I don't blame them for putting it on everything."
"I think that's another stereotype." says Tamara.
"Well it's great anyway so you should try some." Jennifer sits back down. She had gotten another bag of miniature rice krispies. Well I'm going to have another busy year making all those rice krispies. I should really teach her some day.
"Why do I get two?" I ask.
"Oh, one's mine. I was hoping you could experiment with it and somehow put it into the next batch of rice krispies you make."
"How am I supposed to do that?" I ask. Has anyone ever done this before? I've never heard of maple syrup rice krispies. I don't even think Canadians eat those either.
"You'll figure it out." She replies.
Then I hear a door opening. I doubt that it's Michelle or any of her sisters since I can still hear them arguing fiercely.
"Girls and, Stephen and Keith, we're home!" chimes. The shouting from the other room abruptly stops.
"Girls?" asks, confused.
"Hi mom and dad!" All of the triplets chirps as they run to their parents. The parents hug their daughters tightly and gives them loving looks.
"Hey," says noticing that one person was missing. "Where's Keith?"
"He had something to do." Michelle replies quickly.
"You made him have something to do! You literally threw him out!" Melanie yells.
"What's all this about?" their mom asks.
"Nothing, nothing at all." says Michelle giving a 'we'll talk later look' to Melanie.
"So why are you both home so early?" Milly inquires, changing the subject.
"We've decided that we're going to fill out the papers to adopt Jennifer and Stephen. They've become a family to us."
"Wait just a moment. That-that Mud-" Melanie is cut off by Milly. She pulls Milly's hand off her mouth. "...is going to be my sister! Are you out of your mind!?"
"No Melanie. We're perfectly sane." her father replies. "We've thought about it and have come to that decision. And that's final. Got it?"
Melanie looks just about ready to retaliate when she gets a look from both her parents.
"Fine...I'm just saying you're polluting the family tree..."
"Nonsense. Now let's go. The orphanage is a twenty minute drive. If we want to go to Diagon Alley to pick up your school supplies we need to get there as soon as possible."
Michelle's dad grabs the keys and we all walk out to the familiar car. Well this brings back memories.
We step out of the car. I look up to see a small little building. It's made of red bricks and has many windows. Probably one for each room. Near the top I can see one window that's been fixed with duct tape. Stephen's work I assume. It has a small porch at the front and the building looks really run down. When was the last time someone had stepped into this place? We follow Jennifer's lead and walk into the building. The inside looks exactly the same size you would think if not smaller. The walls are covered in two types of wallpaper; half of them are striped and half of them are floral. Most of it is falling off and I can see a part of the wall in the corner that's been plastered over. It covers up what probably used to be a big hole.
The lady at the desk has a tight grey bun on her head and is very skinny. She's wearing all black, a pencil skirt and a top. It looks like she has a permanent scowl etched on her face. "Oh it's you again." she mutters coldly. "I thought I'd gotten rid of you two summers ago."
"Well, Joy. It's nice to see you again." Jennifer's says, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "We still haven't filled out the papers."
"Well what lucky people have decided to adopt you?" She glares, finally looking down to see Stephen. She frowns while Stephen just sticks his tongue out at her.
Then Michelle's parents walk in. The room goes silent like royalty had just walked in, or someone who was really rich which is the case. Her dad is wearing an black Armani suit with a striped tie and her mom wears clothes from a brand I can't even pronounce. Even if you didn't know the brands you could just tell those clothes are expensive.
Joy looks like she had just met the King and Queen of England. She quickly straightens her skirt and shakes their hand, plastering a fake smile on her face. "Nice to meet you. My name is Joy.
"Cut the act Joy," Jennifer mutters under her breath, still glaring at her. I wonder what had happened; though, judging from the teared up and tattered room, I guess they weren't the best kids in the orphanage.
"Are you sure you want to adopt these two? There are better options than these misfits." Says Joy. Her voice is oozing with fakeness.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Now can you hurry it up, we have a plane to catch to ummm... Canada." says quickly. Seems like they don't want to see her any more than we do.
"Eh?" Jennifer says to end the awkward silence that has somehow started.
We all give her weird looks.
"What?" She asks perplexed. "Canadian's add 'eh' at the end of all their sentences."
"Yeah we are, I want to go to visit Casa Loma again." say Michelle's dad, forgetting that he wasn't supposed to have already went. Michelle's mom grabs his hand and squeezes it tightly. Mr. Chang winces in pain and manages to muster "I mean uh...not again...Uh...I want to try some maple syrup."
Melanie finally decides to say something, probably giving the plan away. "What are you talking about? We just got back from a two month business trip in Canada last week."
"What are you talking about? We've never been there in our entire lives." Says Jennifer, winking at her.
"Why are you winking at me. Are you flirting with me because let me get this straight, I'm straight. You're being delusional. You Mud-" the rest of it gets muffled by Milly yet again.
"Okay, we need to have a talk." Says Michelle, a bit of annoyance in her eyes.
"About what? Now you're delusional. Get your hands off me." She says, struggling to get out of Michelle's and Milly's grasp.
"We'll be outside." Melanie gets dragged out of the orphanage.
"We'll fill out the papers. You girls should go get Jennifer and Stephen's stuff." Say Michelle's mom taking out a fancy pen, not unlike that pen Michelle gave to Keith for Christmas that one year.
"Okay, let's go." Says Jennifer, rushing up the stairs. She turns around half way. "Oh watch out for the third step. Stephen broke it last year."
"I told you it wasn't my fault!" Stephen whines.
"Oh Really? Oh right, it was a ghost." Jennifer remarks. "I'm not convinced and I've actually met a ghost."
We arrive at a door. The doorknob is taped on with duct tape and a thin piece of wood is nailed on near the bottom. Another hole? What does that guy do to this place?
She walks in and places her bag on the floor, beginning to stuff her things in the suitcase. I look around the room, its all teared up but posters cover most of the mess. Uh...Tamara notices as well.
"Uh...who's that and...why is he shirtless?" Asks Tamara as she points to one of the posters. He poses and leans against a dark blue wall. Bright white lights shine on him. The wall is covered in posters, most of them of one guy. She notices her mistake but just decides to tell us.
"You don't know them?! I'm offended. They're the best band in the world. They are practically sex gods." Says Jennifer, her face full of shock.
"Uh..." Is all I can manage to say. Who knew she would be obsessed with Thrn Chain. We both know who he is. Tamara had just asked for the sake of asking it. They're one of the most popular bands in the world. They play in both the Muggle and Wizarding but they're actually wizards. There are four members: Leon, Allistar, Darryn and Derek. The poster is of Leon, the lead singer and guitarist. He is the leader of the group. Almost everyone knows them whether they want to or not.
"You absolutely HAVE to listen to them. They're voices are like angels!" Jennifer docks her brand new iPod on a speaker dock and puts the music on at full blast. She jumps on the top of the bed, not caring that she still has her shoes on and dances wildly while jumping up and down.
I look down at Stephen had just walked in, dragging a sack of toys like he's Santa Claus on Christmas. I don't think he'll be giving them to anyone though. "Is this normal?" I ask curiously.
"Yup, for once, that hole in the ceiling wasn't caused by me." The patch of ceiling is plastered poorly, threatening to fall right on top of her. She doesn't seem to notice or care.
"Hey why aren't you dancing? This is one of their best songs! How can you not dance to it?"
"Uh...because we're not obsessed?" I answer simply.
"And people have different tastes?" Tamara adds.
"Not obsessed! Are you crazy!? How can you not be?"
Before we can answer, a new song plays. "Oh my god! I love this song!"
"Don't you love all their songs?" Asks Tamara, still looking around the room.
"What song don't you like?" I question.
"Umm...wait oh Ch-, no...wait Ha-, no..." She stutters.
"You love them all don't you?" Says Tamara.
"Yeah, they're just all so good!" She replies. "How can you hate any of them?"
"You don't even have one that you like a bit less than the others?" I wonder aloud.
"Nope. Their just all so awesome!" She says as she jumps off the bed at the end of the song. The plaster on the ceiling falls as it had been planned.
Jennifer doesn't looked bothered. "I was tired of looking at the ceiling anyway. Can you help me take the posters off the wall?"
"Sure." Tamara and I reply. I begin to take down some posters, almost all revealing to be plastered up holes. How is it even possible to cause this much damage?
We finish packing up as Michelle's mom walks in. "We've finally finished filling out all the papers. Let's go, we still need to have lunch and get to Diagon Alley." She lowers her voice at that last part.
We walk down the stairs, avoiding that third step and make it back to the front desk.
Joy plasters on her fake smile again. "It was so nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Chang. Maybe we'll see each other again sometime." She shakes their hands with a firm grasp.
"Maybe." Michelle's dad replies though the expression on his face gives off that he wanted to get as far away from this place as possible. I won't be surprised if he gets a speeding ticket trying to drive away from this place.
Jennifer gives Joy one final glare while Stephen sticks his tongue out at her again. We all walk out together. The triplets are still outside yelling at each other. They settle down as we get out and we all get into the car. I wonder how Muggles feel when they see so many people coming out of one car. They must think we have one of those clown cars from the circus or something.
"Well she's such a joy, isn't she." Says Jennifer. She has a huge smile on her face. I guess she's happy that she never has to see her again.
"Yeah, I can see where she got her name." Replies Tamara.
"How did you live with her all this time?" asks Michele. "I would've bursted a long time ago. There would be way more damage to the walls if I had to live there."
"Well it was either this or the streets. The streets seemed better at times but I doubt we would last long. Especially since Stephen eats so much." says Jennifer ruffling his hair.
"Stop it!" he whines.
"Nope." she says laughing.
We all laugh and talk for the rest of the ride. Not too much later, I notice that Michelle's dad had pulled at to a restaurant. The building looks way better then the orphanage but isn't too fancy. Well that's good. I don't want to go to some fancy restaurant and be undressed. We all hop out of the car.
"I'm starving." Stephen announces, his stomach grumbling loudly
"When are you not?" I ask. He can't seem to come up with a reply.
"Come on then." says Michelle's dad. "Let's go eat. I agree with Stephen. I'm starved after filling out all those papers. It's time to celebrate!"
"Let's go!" Stephen says excitedly. "I hope they have ice cream!"
So did you like the first chapter! If you did please review what you like about it. If you didn't, what could we change. Anonymous review is on. As we didn't get any reviews for the last year in the series, we really hope to get some this year. As usual, the chapters will be posted each Friday.
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