About 2 hours later, everyone stood looking up at the towering gate hopelessly. The rain had still not let up, but had now got worse and beat down mercilessly on everybody, of which quite a few of them had gone blue and shivery. They had long ago put on their outer robes to keep them warm but those too had been thoroughly soaked by the disastrous weather.

"Maybe if we-" Rose started before being interrupted by a very frustrated James.

"No! Everything you've suggested doesn't work!" He groaned, pushing his sopping hair out of his eyes.

"What about Hogsmeade? You know, the secret passages dad told us about?" Lily inquired hopefully.

"Won't work. The one through the Hogs head is useless because we don't even know where the room of requirement is, besides, you heard dad, it probably got destroyed by that fire, that, or the fires still going. And we can't go through Honeydukes either. That got sealed off before the battle." James sighed morosely.

"Plus," Fred added "we can't go through the whomping willow, aunt hermione made sure that passageway had been sealed off too."

"Well, it is dangerous." Rose said airily. "I would've done the same, and besides, what about uncle George's shop? He could get help for us."

"Dad's staying at grandma Molly's for the night, the shop'll be locked up" Roxy chimed in, shivering slightly with her robes wrapped around her tightly. She wasn't nearly as bad as Evelyn though, who was now turning slightly purple while shaking uncontrollably.

"Hey what about the Three broomsticks?" Louis asked thoughtfully "I mean, I know that underage wizards aren't allowed in past Hogsmeade hours but... I don't know, I suppose me and Molls could go in and ask if she has some blankets or something?"

"P-pl-please? it's w-worth a t-t-try" Evelyn whispered through violently chattering teeth, cuddling up to Hugo and Lucy who were almost suffering the same as her.

"C'mon we need to do something!" Shouted James over the roaring thunder that had now rolled in. He tugged Evvy and Lily up from their spots on the floor and sheltered them under his arms, screaming for the others to do the same and they started to steadily jog back towards the train station to take an alternative route to Hogsmeade because the other was on the other side of the school.

The rain, now hailstones, continued to hammer down on them without regret and the thunder was now louder and rumbled for longer periods of time, lighting occasionally lighting up the sky and creating eerie flashes throughout the woods on either side of them, and just as they could see the station clearly through the heavy sheets of hail and fog a bolt of electricity crashed into a huge tree beside them and quickly started to fall. Sprinting now the gang only just made it out of harms way before the massive tree crashed to the floor, shaking the ground slightly. Each of them casting panicked looks at each other they all made noises of horror before they broke into a sprint again, this time running for their lives.

They had reached Hogsmeade in record time, only giving the completely empty streets a quick glance before charging towards the only building with a light on on the far end of the street but just as they were about to crash though the door, it slammed shut right in their faces.

"No underage wizards allowed!" The ratty puppet heads started to yabber and squawk, "Clear off! You're not welcome!"

"Stay here," Molly rolled her eyes "I'll just be a second." And with that she pushed the door open and walked swiftly inside, moments later she came out with the elderly barkeeper, Rosmerta, who took one look at the miserable bunch and cried out in shock.

"Oh! My poor dears! Come in, come in, I'll take you up to some rooms to dry off in and bring you up some butter beers. What on earth were you doing outside in this weather? You should probably be thankful you're still alive!" She scolded in a motherly tone while grabbing their arms and hauling them upstairs. She unlocked a big room at the far end of the corridor and ushered them all inside. "ESSIE!" She roared, "WE NEED A BARREL OF BUTTERBEER AND... One, two three... TEN GLASSES UPSTAIRS PLEASE!" She looked around and noticed for the first time what a bad state they were actually in and even gasped in fear when she saw Evelyn. "Oh no, how did I not notice? We need blankets, blankets blankets blankets." she opened one of the cupboards and pulled out a few huge, thick woollen blankets before grabbing the shaking girl and pulling her to her feet. "Come on now, take this off," she murmured pulling off the freezing cold, soggy Hogwarts robe "you're as blue as your clothes dear, that's it now wrap this tightly around you, everyone else do the same!" She exclaimed hurling blankets at everyone.

"Thanks, 'Merta." James breathed shakily, stripping his robe off and wrapping the fleecy blanket around him before going over to Evelyn and pulling her into a hug, which she didn't look too comfortable with but didn't protest as James was actually radiating warmth. "Nowhere else was open."

"Why were you out there in the first place? Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Well... Yes," Louis told her slowly "but we missed the carriages and the gates were closed by the time we got there."

"Missed the carriages? Even the last one?" She questioned skeptically.

"Yeah... Nobody woke us up on the train and it was just starting to move before we got off it." Fred explained grumpily.

"Yeah, and when we went to tell the driver to stop the train, there was no one there! Apparently the Hogwarts express doesn't have a driver!"

"No driver? Who would of thought..." Just at that moment there was a knock at the door and a young, pretty, blonde haired witch came through the door lugging a barrel of Butterbeer along with her. On her arms were trays of empty glass tankards, all balanced precariously on top of each other. "Ah, you brought them, Thankyou very much Essie. Here, everyone, take a glass!" She smiled, filling each tankard and handing them out to everybody. They all took one and started to drink, content smiles appearing on their faces one by one as the warmth from the Butterbeer spread through their bodies. "And you my dear?" She offered a glass to Evelyn.

"No thankyou," She said sleepily, yawning like a kitten and snuggling further into James's side, seeming to forget it was James. "I don't really... Like Butterbeer." She yawned again closing her eyes.

"Umm, ok." Rosmerta looked at her oddly and took the glass for herself, sharing weird looks with everyone else. "Thanks Essie, you can go back down now. Anyway, where were we? Oh yes, no driver. How did you get off the train then?"

"Oh we jumped!" Exclaimed Lucy excitedly, "It was so fun!"

"Jumped? Oh my goodness! You could've died!"

"Oh, pshhhh! We're fine, besides, it wasn't going that fast." Hugo waved her off nonchalantly.

"Well, except for when I-" Rose began irritatedly before hugs palm came to rest tightly over her mouth.

"Yep were all good!" He smiled cheekily at the older woman.

"Aaannyway," Molly continued their tale "after that we ran all the way to Hogwarts in that torrential downpour and tried to get their attention or find a way in... That didn't really work in our favour. We convinced James to come here when the storm started."

"So we've basically been stood outside for the past 2 and a half hours!" Lily finally chipped in slightly grumpily and Rosmerta smiled warmly, she had always had a soft spot for the Potters, well, that was before she actually took in what she had said.

"2 and half hours? And in this storm too! You should've come sooner, no wonder that poor girl looks like an icicle!" She exclaimed pointing at Evelyn who was now asleep under James's arm. "Who is she anyway? I'm sure I've never seen her in my life."

"An American transfer student, originally from Ireland. Today was supposed to be her first day." Fred yawned sleepily.

"Her names Evvy!" James interrupted, smiling down at her.

"You're being a creep James, you've only just met her, I'm sure she's extremely uncomfortable with the amount of attention you're giving her." Molly spoke very matter of factly before rolling her eyes "and her name isn't 'Evvy', that's just the stupid nickname you've given her, her real names Evelyn." She turned to the kind old barkeeper in front of them.

"Only just met her you say? As in today? Dear merlin boy! You look as though you're in love with her already... I do suppose you would make quite the cute couple though, she's very pretty too." She winked

"Yeah right." James grumpily, "anyway, is there any way to get back to school?"

"Not really, it's too dangerous to be out in this storm. And too dangerous to send an owl out too!"

"I can do a patronus" offered Louis, "we can use that to send the message."

"Sounds good, come on." She dragged him to the window to perform the spell as the rest of them got up, deciding to sort out sleeping arrangements, and as soon as everyone was tucked up in bed, well, with the exception of James who was still sat up against the headboard on top of the covers with evelyn still nestled against his side under a mound of blankets, as soon as everybody's heads had hit the pillow they fell to sleep instantly. Rosmerta smiled and silently left the room and from then on, all that could be heard was the soft snores of the 10 Hogwarts students.

At 6.00 the next morning there was a loud knock at the door and just as everyone started wake up, groaning and grumbling the door flew open and there stood McGonnagal, her face half stern and half amused. "Good morning, you lot. We need to get back to Hogwarts as soon as possible." She pointed her wand at the curtains and they opened, letting an extremely bright morning light into the room. Everyone squeezed their eyes tightly shut, grumbling even louder, with the exception of people like rose and molly who were early risers and Evelyn who was still asleep. McGonnagal looked questioningly at her as everybody else rolled out of bed, stretching and yawning as they pulled their still damp robes on.

"She sleeps like the dead, we had to use rennervate yesterday." James told her, noticing the look "and that was when she was having a bad dream and was about to wake up anyway."

"Rennervate." The professor murmured in her Scottish accent. Evelyn, however, made no move to wake up and just shifted slightly in her sleep, mcgonnagals expression changed into one of utter shock. "That spell could revive somebody from a coma!" Auguamenti also did nothing, wingardium leviosa didn't work, hell even the tickling charm didn't. "This girl... Nevermind, who can carry her?"

"I will!" James offered immediately. Everyone gave him a pointed look but he dint notice because he had already turned away and was starting to wrap evelyn back into her dry robes. Once they were all ready, they began the long trek back to Hogwarts, trudging with great exhaustion through the soggy ground. It was still drizzling a little bit but no one could bring themselves to care, too preoccupied with trying not to lose their shoes in the mud. With great exhaustion they finally fell against the heavy wooden doors of the school and entered.

"Ok, into the great hall everyone, I'll ask the house elves to serve breakfast early." McGonnagal said quietly through huge breaths, clutching her chest in exhaustion.

"House elves?" Fred feigned shock, "you keep house elves here?"

"Oh I know all of you have found the kitchens, Mr Weasley, no use trying to fool me now." She raised her eyebrows sternly at him and he just grinned at her. "Now, luckily I decided to visit her before she started and sort her then." She gestured half heartedly to Evelyn "I'm sure you'll all be pleased to hear she's in Gryffindor." A resounding cry of jubilation came from the group of teenagers as they all sat down at the empty Gryffindor table. James propped Evelyn up against his shoulder before grabbing his knife and fork and eagerly awaiting the food. As as if the elves had read his thoughts, it arrived, huge mounds of it spread out in front of them. It seemed to glow in an almost heavenly fashion, steam wafted up from it and filled the whole hall up with mouthwatering smells.

Evelyn's eyes suddenly snapped open and she shot up, looking around greedily. "Food" she whispered before grabbing handfuls from each dish and piled her plate high.

"Morning!" Everyone greeted her, laughing and helping themselves to their own meals.

"So you wake up, with food?" James puzzled.

"Ummm, yeah." She said quietly with a mouthful of food "mostly, and if I'm in imminent danger, like drowning, I suppose." And she turned back to her bacon wrapped scrambled egg pockets.

"So I carried you all the way here, not that you were heavy or anything, I mean look at the size of you. But I carried you and we could've just stuck a plate of bacon under your nose?"

"Oh, I was wondering how I got here. And yes I suppose so."

"Well, we know for the future." Lily said. "Anyway, here come the other students. Be prepared for attention Evvs." She gestured towards the door where the couple of students entering the hall soon turned into steady stream. Great, thought Evelyn, time to meet the rest of the school.