A/N: Alrighty. There's quite a bit to explain for this, just in case people don't get some stuff. This is mostly based on reality. I really was grounded this past June and July, and Dorney Park really does exist. The rides and layout of the park… everything about it, really is true. Actually, I think I don't have to explain much in this part. It's part 2 that I need to do some explaining in. This wasn't originally supposed to be a fic divided into parts, but I really wanted to post it, so I did anyway. If you have read The Witches From Thunder Canyon, you'll probably like this. If you haven't, read this anyway, and see if you like it. If you do, check out The Witches From Thunder Canyon. Draca (Meryl) and I both wrote it, so it's under the pen name Madd Spammer and Draca.
Disclaimer: Hogwarts and all of its students don't belong to me, and neither does Dorney Park. All of the Harry Potter stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling, and Dorney Park belongs to Cedar Fair.
Wizards' Day Out
Part 1
It was finally past the fourth of July, and I was in an extremely good mood. Why, you ask? Well, even though, like most people, I do enjoy holidays, I had been waiting for that particular one to be over because I would finally be un-grounded. See, about a month before, I came home an hour late from Dorney Park and my parents grounded me from going there. What is Dorney Park, you ask? It's an amusement park that my friends and I hang out at a lot. We got our name (Canyon Crew… and NO, we are NOT a gang) from one of the rides there (Thunder Canyon – it's a river rapids ride – but that's a long story).
So, anyway, to celebrate my un-grounding, the Canyon Crew Minus Two (that's four out of six of us – Me, Ellen, Rachel and Meryl… you may know her as Draca) went to Dorney Park for a fun-filled day of Bob-stalking and just romping around the park. At the point where my story starts, the four of us were trekking towards Steel Force, the 200-foot roller coaster that's somewhat secluded from the rest of the park.
As we walked through the little tunnel created by the tracks of Thunderhawk and of Steel Force and some trees, we noticed some robed figures walking towards us. I, for one, didn't think much of it. I mean, it's Dorney Park… not only do my friends and I hang out there, but a lot of freaks do, too! Of course, I did have to turn around to watch them once they had walked by. That wasn't something I saw every day, even at Dorney!
When we got to the steps that you have to walk up to get up to the station of the coaster, Meryl was starting to hyperventilate, so we had to carry her there while she was kicking and screaming. She does like Steel Force, but she gets herself all worked up before she goes on it. Luckily, there was no line (we're smart enough to go to Dorney on weekdays, when there's hardly any people there) and we got right on the train that was waiting, which just happened to be my favorite, the blue one. We were in the last two rows of seats in the last car, because that's where you get the most airtime.
Right before the ride attendants got to our car to check the lap bars, two robed figures slipped into the seats in front of Meryl and me (Ellen and Rachel had the last two seats). These were different ones than we saw before, but wearing the same type of robes. Meryl and I were at a pause in our mindless drivel when I caught a snippet of the boys' conversation as we were going up the lift hill.
"…I bet this won't be as fast as my Firebolt," The boy with messy dark hair said.
"Of course not, nothing's faster than a Firebolt," Replied the tall redhead next to him.
Meryl, who had resumed grabbing hold of anything solid in the vicinity, was looking at the floor, so I tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. When she wouldn't look up, I kept tapping her until she snapped, "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!?"
"Meryl," I said, pointing to the boys in front of us, "They're wearing robes, and they just said 'Firebolt'… They're – YAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!" I was cut off when we had finally gotten near the top of the lift hill and were pulled into the 205-foot plunge into the tunnel below (that's what happens when you're in the last car).
The track of Steel Force is over a mile long, so I momentarily forgot about my discovery. As soon as we got off, Rachel grabbed my arm and we flew down the stairs leading from the platform to the photo area. I figured that she and Ellen had made funny faces in the picture and she wanted to show them off, even though Ellen was lumbering far behind us, along with Meryl. When we finally got there, we found our pictures right away.
"Mel, you idiot, your arm is blocking my face!" Rachel screamed at me.
"So? That guy's hair is blocking mine!"
"Yeah, his hair is a mess," She agreed. "Look at the way it – "
I looked at her. "The way it what?"
"LOOK!" She grabbed my face and forced me to look up at the monitors. "Okay, he's got messy hair… we've established that already…"
"Not his HAIR! Look at his FOREHEAD!"
"His forehead? Ummm, okay…" I squinted at the monitor until I saw what I knew she was talking about. "OH MY GOD! NO WAY!"
She pointed, "It's there, if you don't believe it!"
"It must be a glitch with the computer."
"Computers don't have lightning bolt shaped glitches!"
"Glitches?" Meryl and Ellen had finally gotten into the photo pavilion and had only caught the last word of what Rachel had just said.
Rachel and I pointed at the monitor and both said, "Look at his forehead."
"Hey… isn't that… he's… SCARRR!" Meryl incoherently blathered while Ellen just kept staring at the screen.
"Maybe you two should sit down," I suggested.
"Maybe we should all sit down," Rachel said.
There was only one bench left in the pavilion, and it only had enough space for three people. Just my luck, Ellen, Meryl and Rachel sat down first and there was no space for me. It just figures that it was my idea to sit down, and I didn't get to. "Can't you skooch over just a little bit? You know, I don't need much room to squeeze in."
They didn't budge.
I crossed my arms. "Fine, be that way! I'm going to find those guys without you!" I stalked out of the pavilion and towards the bridge leading across the creek that runs through the park.
"HEYYYY! Wait up!" I heard from behind me.
I stopped, crossed my arms and tapped my foot irritably as they hurried to catch up to me. I was all the way over near the Cheat-Ball, er, Skee-Ball games already. When they finally got there, Rachel inquired, "Where do you think they would be, anyway?"
I thought for a second. "Maybe they're going for the biggest attractions. So, we'll have to scope all of those out. Laser's right here, so we might as well check there."
"Don't you black out on the Laser?" Meryl asked.
"Er, yeah. But that adds to the experience!" So what if I black out every time we go through the loops on the Laser? It's all in fun!
Like Steel Force, the line was really short, and we made our way onto the former carnival ride quickly. I ended up sitting with Rachel this time, behind Ellen and Meryl. As we noisily went up the lift hill, the four of us were discussing how unnerving it was that the ride was completely up on blocks of wood, which could easily move out of place. Needless to say, we scared ourselves shitless. The ride itself is kinda scary, because it's only the two loops and a few sharp turns which you go through pretty fast (not quite as fast as Steel Force, but still pretty fast).
"So, anyone see anything?" Ellen queried once we were off the ride.
I wobbled unsteadily. "I black out on the loops, 'member?"
"I didn't see anything," was Rachel's input.
"Ditto," Meryl said.
"Where next?" I asked.
Rachel gazed towards the tower rising out of the center of the park. "Oh, I don't know, how about," she finally pointed at what she was looking at, "the Dominator?"
"No WAY. No freaking way!" Meryl responded.
"There is a nice view at the top before you plummet down, you know." I tried to look on the bright side. So what if I hadn't been on the Dominator yet that year. It's not like you could get killed on it or anything.
"NO! And that's FINAL!"
"Fine." I thought for a second. "Hang Time, then?"
We all unanimously agreed on that, since it's one of the best rides in the park, even though it frequently breaks down. Once when we were on it, it was supposed to go upside down, but just kinda slid back to the resting (if you can call it that for a ride) position. I got really mad and yelled "YOU SUCK!" to the ride operator. I was disgruntled, okay?
To get to Hang Time, we had to walk up past the Dominator, the Whip, some more Cheat-Ball – Skee-Ball – games, the Sea Dragon and the catering area. We never made it up to Hang Time.
As we passed the catering area, I stopped dead in my tracks. My jaw must have been somewhere on the ground, because right there on the sign, it said "Hogwarts School." Just beyond the sign I could see a bunch of robed figures bustling around, sitting on the benches, eating food, and talking to each other. I reached over and gave a slight tug to whoever's shirtsleeve was closest to me. I didn't really take notice whose it was.
"What is it, Mel?" Meryl responded irately. When I wordlessly pointed to the sign, Meryl started dancing. "We found them! We found them! ALL of them! MUAHAHAHAHA!"
I then hid behind Rachel and whispered to her, "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. And we shouldn't have told her about Harry being on Steel Force." Rachel nodded in agreement.
"Meryl, you know, it doesn't say 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.' It just says 'Hogwarts School.' It could be a different one," I said in a pathetic attempt to get Meryl out of her manic mood. So what if it's really obvious that the sign said only "Hogwarts School" because, after all, Dorney is a Muggle amusement park. At least I tried!
"DUH Mel!" Okay, so it didn't work. Big surprise. "Do you realize what would happen if it actually SAID 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?' Mass Muggle madness!"
"Oh. Yes. Of course." After I admitted that I was wrong, Meryl danced around in circles like an idiot again.
"Okay, what now?" Ellen said, interrupting Meryl's little jig.
"What do you mean?" She questioned.
"Well, you know, we can't get back there. You need a special tag or something to go to the catering area. We don't have one," She replied.
"Hmm…" I then suddenly got an idea. "Erin works in catering! And this is her grove! She can get us back there!"
Meryl scrunched up her nose at mention of Erin. See, Erin is my friend, but she didn't exactly make the best impression on my other friends the time that we all went to Dorney together. "Won't she get in trouble with her supervisor?"
I considered that idea. "Yeah, I suppose she could. I guess we shouldn't try to get her help." Meryl looked relieved, as well as Rachel and Ellen. "So, then what?"
"What we need is one of our famous elaborate schemes," Rachel input thoughtfully.
"But there's one little problem with that," Ellen said sardonically, "THEY DON'T WORK!"
"Then we'll come up with a foolproof one that even we can't screw up," I concluded hopefully.
At that, we all proceeded to Coasters, the 50's themed restaurant near the park's entrance. It's a good place to plot things because the booths are very comfy, we can control the music, and the food isn't all that bad either. It's a great place to think, which was what we needed to do, even if we hadn't done so for a long time.