"You must be joking!" I said angrily.
"Honey, please try and understand" My mother tried again, looking at my father for help.
"No! You're the one not understanding the consequences of this ridiculous 'plan' of yours"I snapped, viciously quoting the air.
"We can't risk the dangers" She insisted
"But we can't live life hiding under a rock!" I fumed
"Evelyn!" My father shouted.
I spun around and glared at my father.
"You can't actually be going along with this" I laughed hollowly.
"That's enough. Go up to your room. Now" He said loudly.
"Fine" I snarled.
It was a shame that the kitchen door was a swinging door, or I would have made quite the exit with the amount of force I used on the way out.
During the short walk up to my room, I struggled to fight back the tears. Never have I ever had an argument as heated as that one with anyone, let alone my parents. It was completely out of character for all of us.
Nearly an hour ago, my parents tried to talk me into an expensive wizarding academy across the ocean.
*Previously*
"No" I said simply. "I like Hogwarts"
"But look, it's an all-girls school! No boys!" My mum said as she read the information booklet out loud.
"No boys?" I faked a gasp. "How would I survive?"
My mum smiled briefly before turning serious.
"I think it's a great school. You and Katie will love it there!"
"But, why? I didn't even agree"
My father, who was flipping through the evening prophet, stood up and excused himself from the kitchen. I narrowed my eyes.
"Wait. Is this about what they're writing in the Prophet?" I asked slowly, my eyes darting towards tonight's headline; 'Albus Dumbledore suspended from the Wizengamot'
My mother shifted uncomfortably in her seat as my father, who was making his way out, paused and turned.
"We're just taking precautions" My father assured me.
"By sending Katie and I to another school in Canada?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Well, we'd all be moving" My mom said, setting the booklet in front of me.
"But why? If this is about the news, then according to them, there's nothing to worry about" I said.
My mother opened her mouth, ready to speak, but said nothing.
I already knew the answer. Any smart witch and wizard knew the truth. Both the Daily and Evening Prophet had been posting articles all summer, calling harry Potter a liar and Albus Dumbledore a fool for believing his attention seeking lies, but there were already signs. Bertha Jorkins, a reporter for the daily prophet recently disappeared. It wasn't much, but it was the beginning. This summer, I often overheard my parents discussing the topic, and I already knew that they believed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was most likely back. Perhaps they didn't want to worry me by saying it out loud. Like I didn't already know, I thought.
But it confused me to see my parents so ready leave at any instant.
"Where's Kate" I asked, standing up. "Does she know?"
"She left to visit Alicia this afternoon. She'll be back tomorrow night"
"But this is just exaggerating, even Katie would agree with me. Nowhere is safer than where Professor Dumbledore is" I insisted.
"We're not discussing this. We're going to move" My father said sternly.
"No! I won't go!" I said loudly, surprising my parents- and myself.
"Evelyn," My mother began, raising her voice
*00000*
I opened my bedroom door roughly and threw myself on my bed, bursting into tears as soon as my face hit the pillow.
Ever since Cedric Diggory was murdered by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the whole British wizarding world has been on edge. I mean, what else could you do when the worst dark wizard of all time who's been dead for the past 14 years suddenly returns?
Ever since Katie and I have been home for the summer holidays, we've noticed our parents whispering quietly over the Daily Prophet, over that day's headline. This morning's headline was "Harry Potter? Or Harry Pothead? You decide". I mean, isn't there some kind of law against posting something like that?
But what frustrated me the most was that people seem to believe what the Ministry is writing. What rubbish. And the worst is that the whole wizarding world is going to fall apart once they realize that Harry Potter was telling the truth when he said He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was truly back and regaining power. But people don't want to believe. I can understand why. It means that people and their families are no longer safe. But were we ever?
I spent the next day locked in my room. I don't quite know whether it was my father, or me, who was being more stubborn. Several times in the day, my mother came up to my room to try and talk to me. I refused. And it pained me each time, because my mother and I were close. I don't remember ever arguing with my parents. Even a disagreement was rare.
When Katie came in through the study by Floo, I didn't hesitate to follow her to her room and fill her in.
"Why didn't they wait until I was home to tell us both?" She asked, puzzled, as she threw her dirty clothing in the laundry basket with a little more force than needed.
"Because they know that we would have overruled them. Remember in 3rd year when I tried to get mom to transfer me to that all-girls school? I think she thinks I might have agreed without you to influence me" I muttered crossly from her bed.
"Well, it looks like you don't need much influencing anymore. In fact, you're influencing me" She grinned, throwing herself on her bed next to me.
"Do spill" I said, lying on her bed.
"Well, Alicia and I met up with Angelina, Lee and some of his friends last night and we went to a party, and Oliver was there…"
"Katie!" I grinned, "What happened to 'studying'?"
"I'm telling you! Your awful habits are rubbing on me!"
"Thanks to Freddie and George, you can thank them later. So, do continue"
After nearly an hour, Katie and I went down for dinner.
"How was the sleepover with Alicia" my mother asked, serving spaghetti.
"It was fun. We rented a muggle movie and relaxed all night" She lied easily.
I was rubbing off on her! We shared a grin before she announced that Angelina had been made Quidditch Captain.
"… and I'm so excited to be playing Chaser again this year! I think we really have a shot at the cup! I've been working with Evelyn and I'm sure she'll make the team!"
Once again, my mother shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
"Don't pretend Evelyn didn't tell you. I'm sure she did" My father rolled his eyes.
"Ok, fine, she did" Katie continued, unfazed, "And I have to say that I agree with her. If He's really back, then wherever Professor Dumbledore is, is the safest, and you both know that, and so if you were truly worried about our safety, then you would keep us at Hogwarts. And, plus, I highly doubt that you're both going to leave your jobs at the Ministry…"
Katie seemed to have gone on forever, ticking off every point and hitting each right topic. My parents realized long ago that they were overruled. So did I, and probably Katie too. She had a way of convincing my parents; something that I could never do.
And by the end of dinner, my parents sighed in defeat and said that we could return to Hogwarts on 1 condition; that if something happened; we were to come straight home.
"That was impressive" I said later as Katie and I lounged across the library floor, our summer school work surrounding us.
"I know" She replied smugly.
"So, did Angelina actually make Captain?" I asked, flipping through a transfiguration textbook.
"Yep, which means that I'm guaranteed to play for Gryffindor again"
"There might be someone better than you" I said, peering over my book, grinning.
"Maybe. We also need a new keeper this year. Oliver's gone" She sighed.
"I'm sure Liam McLaggen would make a great replacement" I waggled my eyebrows and dodged a rather large book.
"Shush, you" She blushed.
"You know it's true. Oliver was just too obsessed with Quidditch. I mean, sure, he certainly doesn't lack in the looks department, and he's a decent fellow when he's not thinking about Quidditch, but that last part is rarely seen. And Liam said so himself that he thought you were 'beautiful'" I quoted
"But he was drunk" She said pointedly.
"The truth comes out when under the influence of alcohol" I grinned.
"So you'd 'shag Draco Malfoy if given the chance'?" She retorted
"Hey, that was low" I laughed.
"You shouldn't be drinking in the first place" She scolded
"Blame it on George" I said, reopening my textbook.
We were silent for a few minutes before I frowned.
"Speaking of George, where is he and Fred these days?"
"Hmm?" She asked, scribbling furiously onto her parchment
"I haven't heard from the twins since, well, since school ended" I said after a moment.
"I dunno, Alicia and Angie haven't heard back from them either" She said, biting the end of her quill in concentration.
"Harry says that Ron hasn't been responding to him either. Did they go on vacation?"
"Not that I know of" She said, settling her quill down and looking up.
"Now that I think of it, I haven't heard from Hermione either"
"What about Alexandra?"
"Oh, come on, tell me you haven't noticed the amount of letters I receive a day" I rolled my eyes.
"Those were all her?" she laughed.
"Mostly"
"So when is she coming over?"
"On the 26th of August" I said, looking down at my blank parchment that should contain the importance of Transfiguration.
"Can you believe that there's only a week and a half left of summer?" She asked, piling her books one on top of the other and carefully rolling her parchment.
"It's awful. But can you help me with this essay?" I asked, shoving it forward.
"You mean that in an hour, all you've managed to write was the date and the title?" she sighed as she pulled my textbook towards her.
"I love you" I said in a sing-song voice.
"I'm sure you do" She muttered sarcastically, writing out my key points on a spare parchment.
I grinned widely.
Authors Note.
So welcome to another story! Let me clear up a few things to start off.
Evelyn is Katie's younger sister by a year, and in the beginning of the chapter, we see Evelyn arguing against her parent's wishes to send her and Katie off to boarding school, away from Voldemort but they're overruled by the sisters.
Liam McLaggen is just a character I created as Cormac McLaggen's older brother, who also plays the keeper position well. Whether he's going to be a bigger part of Katie's romantic life yet is unknown*HINT HINT*. I haven't really figured out much about this story yet and I'm kind of just going with the flow!
You'll learn more about Liam and Alexandra (who is Evelyn's best friend) and you'll be learning more about my characters in the next few chapters!
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm sure that everything is pretty unclear right now but give it a few more chapters
I'm going with the flow at the moment so please be patient!
I'm sorry if there are any spelling mistakes! Please let me know and I will correct them! Also, its currently 4:30 in the morning, so forgive me if some parts don't make sense. I've gone over it twice and I know something is off, but quite frankly, I'
I'm sending naked Draco Malfoys to all the lovely reviewers!
So Read & Review!
~Maddie Black