Chapter 2

"Nicky, hurry up will you? You're going to be late!" I ran out of the bathroom and into my room, on the way picking up my jewelry box and putting it in the handbag I was carrying. I took my trunk from my bed and ran downstairs, trunk bumping down the stairs behind me. I saluted "Ready to leave, m'am!" I said to my mum who had yelled at me from down the stairs. She groaned "oagh, finally! Hush hush, to the car. You have to leave, now!" I grabbed my trunk again which I had let go off when I saluted, and headed outside. "Don't you forget your coat?" My mum yelled after me. I grabbed my coat and put my trunk in the car. I turned around to say goodbye to mum and Adam. I hugged mum "Would you keep an eye on William for me? And take good care of yourself too." She said."I will. We're going to be all right mum, we'll be fine." I said. "I know.. Promise to write me once every two weeks, at least." "I promise." We heard a cough, "ahum, I do not want to interrupt a precious mother daughter moment, but if we don't leave now we are sure to miss our flight.." my dad said. I let go of my mum and hugged Adam. We said our goodbyes and I got into the car. William and Nienke were already in the car, so my dad got in and drove down the parking lane. I turned around and started talking with Nienke; we still had a little while until we will reach our destination.

Megan is my cousin and a good friend of mine. She has dark brown, long hair, green/grey eyes and knows how to do her make-up and what clothing complements her body. Sometimes I feel jealous of her. She always looks good and gets all the boys. I, on the other hand, have never had a boyfriend.. I think it is because I look boring; blonde hair, blue eyes, I use little make-up and I don't think I dress horrible, I just like comfortable clothes, that's not bad, is it?

"So I believe we got some catching up to do?" I said, looking at Megan, "You didn't want to tell me last night, but now you got nowhere to hide.." I finished, grinning with a mad grin at Megan. "I don't know what you are talking about." She said while looking innocent. "You do. You have been owling me all vacation about how you got contact with a boy. And you had to tell me all about it, as soon as we met. But last night I couldn't get anything out of you!" I said accusingly. "Ohhh, you were talking about that," she said, "why didn't you say so?" and after I looked at her madly while giving her a push, she laughed and started her story. "So you know how the Weasley twin played that prank on me? With the feathers?" I nodded, "Yeah, they shouldn't have done that, that was mean." "I know. Anyways, I decided to get some revenge. At first I was just going to send them a dungbomb, but then I didn't think it would be fun enough. So then I put a little extra in the dungbomb. I put the dungbomb in a parcel and I dropped the parcel, causing the dungbomb to go off. I then sent the package to them and as soon as they opened it, the delicious stank of dung would spread." She said with a smirk on her face. "That doesn't sound so bad.." I said. "The brilliant thing about my prank is not the dungbomb, it's the thing I added to it." "So, what did you add?" I asked. "The smoke that would form as the bomb turned off would turn their hair to go from green to yellow to blue to green again. I bet they look like a disco ball." I looked at her, thinking about it for half a second before bursting into a mad laughter and Megan joined me. William turned around from the front seat "Who are the Weasley twins?" "The Weasley twins are Fred and George Weasley, they're a part of a big, and I mean BIG, family. They all have fury red hair and are or have all been Gryffindors. You'll know who they are when you see them at the station. I have to warn you, you should watch out for them, first years are easy victims..." I replied. William eyed me suspiciously "Victims..? What do you mean?" "You'll find out soon enough." I simply said. William turned back around after inspecting me, obviously tempted to get me to tell him what I meant with victims.

When we got to the place the portkey that would bring us to the Leaky Cauldron would be, we got out of the car and started looking for it. "I got it! It's right over here ladies!" I heard my dad saying. "Hey, what about me? I'm not a lady!" William said angrily, Megan and I looked at each other with an evil smile "Are you sure you're not a lady, William? I'd like to have some prove." Megan said. I poked her and walked on to where my dad stood. He stood with a group of other people. I recognized a little girl and a boy from school, they're young Slytherins. They were standing next to a stern looking woman. My dad was talking to some gentle looking man. The man was holding the hand of another girl. She probably was too young to go to Hogwarts, but she would travel with her family to Diagon Alley. Her mom and older brother were talking. I immediately recognized the boy. It was Duncan Smit, he's a Ravenclaw and is in the same year as Megan, Petra and I. I've had a huge crush on him last year, but he didn't have the same feelings and now we're just friends. But I still secretly like him.

The whole group was positioned around an old teakettle. Luckily William had decided to ignore Megan or he hadn't heard her. "When are we leaving dad?" William said. "The portkey will bring us to the Leaky Cauldron in 10 minutes. You can be glad that I'm a great driver, Nicky, otherwise we would've been too late, thanks to you." "Thanks for reminding me dad.." I mumbled. Duncan looked at me "You couldn't decide what to pack?" he guessed while he smiled at me. "No, it wasn't like that. It just wouldn't fit in my bags" I said facing Duncan. It struck me, I forgot how handsome he was. Then I concentrated at what he was saying trying not to dream off. "How did you solve it?" he asked, "I packed an extra bag." He laughed. I stuck out my tongue at him and walked to the car to get my bags. Megan, William and dad had already put them near the teakettle.

About 10 minutes later we all stood around the portkey with one hand on the teakettle and in the other our luggage. Suddenly I felt a hook grab me somewhere near the navel and I was being forced through an unknown space. I felt the wind blowing through my hair. In the distance I saw a little spot getting bigger. As it was growing I could see more details, it was an alley. Probably somewhere near the Black Cauldron. I focused on a space where I thought I could land safely and started to move my feet like I was walking. The next moment I stood on the ground. This all had happened very fast. As I looked around I saw William and Duncan's little sister lying on the ground. They apparently didn't have enough experience with portkeys to land well. Dad helped William up. "So, looks like everyone made it. Let's go to the pub then." He said. We all walked behind him and Duncan's dad. They have been good friends since Duncan and I met at the platform 9 ¾.

When we arrived at the pub we got our rooms, Megan and I shared one, and after we had made ourselves comfortable we had dinner. Soon after that we went back to our rooms. When I laid in bed I thought about what had happened at dinner. William had been talking about his new pet the whole time. He still hadn't decided what animal he'd choose. Duncan had advised him to get an owl, since they're very useful, gracious and majestic. I disagreed and Duncan and I had been discussing about the best pet for a wizard or witch. William should definitely take a toad, I thought as I fell asleep.