Hello my loyal readers! Enjoy my longest chapter yet! If you have ideas tell me, okay?
The end of the summer vacation came too quickly for the brothers' liking. They were looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts, and to get rid of those visits to MEGTAF, but this had been a wonderful vacation, and they had befriended their neighbor and her friend: Isabel Vasquez and Kenny Rogers.
It took a long while to get started the morning of the departure. They were up at dawn, but somehow they still seemed to have a great deal to do. All in all, they arrived at the station just in time.
Margaret dashed across the road to get trolleys for their trunks and they all hurried into the station.
Harry had caught the Hogwarts Express the previous year. The tricky part was getting onto platform nine and three-quarters, which wasn't visible to the Muggle eye. What you had to do was walk through the solid barrier dividing platforms nine and ten. It didn't hurt, but it had to be done carefully so that none of the Muggles noticed you vanishing. They met the Weasleys and had to wait.
"Percy first," said Mrs. Weasley, looking nervously at the clock overhead, which showed they had only five minutes to disappear casually through the barrier.
Percy strode briskly forward and vanished. Mr. Weasley went next; Fred and George followed.
"I'll take Ginny and you four come right after us," Mrs. Weasley told Margaret, Harry, Duncan and Ron, grabbing Ginny's hand and setting off.
Margaret strode forwards and vanished, the three boys just behind her. They broke into a run and —
CRASH.
The three trolleys hit the barrier and bounced backward; Ron's trunk fell off with a loud thump, Duncan' trunk collided with him, making him fall, Harry was knocked off his feet, and Hedwig's cage bounced onto the shiny floor, and she rolled away, shrieking indignantly; Demon barked in indignation inside his cage; people all around them stared and a guard nearby yelled, "What in blazes d'you think you're doing?"
"Lost control of the trolley," Duncan gasped, clutching his ribs as he got up. Ron ran to pick up Hedwig, who was causing such a scene that there was a lot of muttering about cruelty to animals from the surrounding crowd.
"Why can't we get through?" Duncan growled to Ron.
"I dunno —"
Ron looked wildly around. A dozen curious people were still watching them. "We're going to miss the train," Ron whispered. "I don't understand why the gateway's sealed itself —"
Harry looked up at the giant clock with a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. Ten seconds… nine seconds… He wheeled his trolley forward cautiously until it was right against the barrier and pushed with all his might. The metal remained solid. Three seconds… two seconds… one second…
"It's gone," said Ron, sounding stunned. "The train's left. What if Mum and Dad can't get back through to us? Have you got any Muggle money?"
"Nope."
Ron pressed his ear to the cold barrier. Duncan raised an eyebrow.
"Can't hear a thing," he said tensely, "What're we going to do? I don't know how long it'll take my parents and your mom to get back to us." They looked around. People were still watching them, mainly because of Hedwig's continuing screeches.
"I think we'd better go and wait by the car, Harry," said Duncan. "We're attracting too much atten —"
"Guys!" said Ron, his eyes gleaming. "My car!"
"What about it?"
"We can fly the car to Hogwarts! Dad enchanted it to fly, along with an invisibility buttom"
"But I thought —"
"Shouldn't we wait for Mom?"
"The train left, right? We're stuck, right? And we've got to get to school, haven't we? And even underage wizards are allowed to use magic if it's a real emergency, section nineteen or something of the Restriction of Thingy —"
"But your Mum and Dad…" said Harry, pushing against the barrier again in the vain hope that it would give way. "How will they get home?" finished Duncan
"They don't need the car!" said Ron impatiently. "They know how to Apparate! You know, just vanish and reappear at home! They only bother with Floo powder and the car because we're all underage and we're not allowed to Apparate yet…" Harry's feeling of panic turned suddenly to excitement.
"Can you fly it?" asked Duncan excited. If everything went well, they wouldn't need to explain that to their mom…
"No, problem," said Ron, wheeling his trolley around to face the exit. "C'mon, let's go. If we hurry we'll be able to follow the Hogwarts Express —" And they marched off through the crowd of curious Muggles, out of the station and back onto the side road where an old Ford Anglia was parked. Ron unlocked the cavernous trunk with a series of taps from his wand. They heaved their luggage back in, put Hedwig and Finem on the back seat, and got into the front, Duncan in the back seat.
"Check that no one's watching," said Ron, starting the ignition with another tap of his wand. Duncan stuck his head out of the window: Traffic was rumbling along the main road ahead, but their street was empty.
"Okay," he said. Ron pressed a tiny silver button on the dashboard. The car around them vanished — and so did they. Harry could feel the seat vibrating beneath him, hear the engine, feel his hands on his knees, but for all he could see, he had become a pair of eyeballs, floating a few feet above the ground in a dingy street full of parked cars.
"Let's go," said Ron's voice from his right.
And the ground and the dirty buildings on either side fell away, dropping out of sight as the car rose; in seconds, the whole of London lay, smoky and glittering, below them.
Then there was a popping noise and the car, Harry, Duncan and Ron reappeared.
"Uh-oh," said Ron, jabbing at the Invisibility Booster. "It's faulty —"
Both of them pummeled it. The car vanished. Then it flickered back again.
"Hold on!" Ron yelled, and he slammed his foot on the accelerator; they shot straight into the low, woolly clouds and everything turned dull and foggy.
"Now what?" said Duncan, blinking at the solid mass of cloud pressing in on them from all sides.
"We need to see the train to know what direction to go in," said Ron.
"Dip back down again — quickly —" They dropped back beneath the clouds and twisted around in their seats, squinting at the ground.
"I can see it!" Duncan yelled. "Right ahead — there!" The Hogwarts Express was streaking along below them like a scarlet snake.
The first hours were exciting, but when the sun had disappeared, they were thirsty, irritable, and more and more convinced that maybe taking the car wasn't a good idea…
"Can't be much further, can it?" croaked Ron, hours later still, as the sun started to sink into their floor of cloud, staining it a deep pink. "Ready for another check on the train?"
It was still right below them, winding its way past a snowcapped mountain. It was much darker beneath the canopy of clouds. Ron put his foot down on the accelerator and drove them downwards again, but as he did so, the engine began to whine, and Duncan's door flew open.
Duncan fell out grabbing the inside handle of the car door quickly,
He clung to it dangling over hundreds of feet in the air.
"DUNCAN!" yelled Harry leaning over to try and help him back in, Duncan tried to push himself up, as Ron held out his hand. "Hold on!" he yelled, Duncan reached grabbed his hand;
but it slipped from his grasp.
"Hold ON!" Ron yelled louder, his eyes wide with worry.
"I'm trying!" Duncan yelled back. "PULL ME UP!"
Finally with one big reach Duncan grasped Harry's hand tightly and he helped drag him back into the car. When his feet were in; he slammed the door shut. Panting, Harry, Duncan and Ron shared nervous glances. "Best put the lock on," he said clicking a button on his side.
When they flew back beneath the clouds a little while later, they had to squint through the darkness for a landmark they knew.
"There!" Harry shouted, making Ron, Duncan, Demon and Hedwig jump. "Straight ahead!" Silhouetted on the dark horizon, high on the cliff over the lake, stood the many turrets and towers of Hogwarts castle. But the car had begun to shudder and was losing speed.
"Come on," Ron muttered.
They were over the lake — the castle was right ahead — Ron put his foot down. There was a loud clunk, a splutter, and the engine died completely.
"Uh-oh," said Ron, into the
silence.
The nose of the car dropped. They were falling, gathering speed, heading straight for the solid castle wall.
"Noooooo!" Ron yelled, swinging the steering wheel around; they missed the dark stone wall by inches as the car turned in a great arc, soaring over the dark greenhouses, then the vegetable patch, and then out over the black lawns, losing altitude all the time. Ron let go of the steering wheel completely and pulled his wand out of his back pocket —
"STOP! STOP!" he yelled, whacking the dashboard and the windshield, but they were still plummeting, the ground flying up toward them —
"WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!" Duncan bellowed, lunging for the steering wheel, but too late—
CRUNCH.
With an earsplitting bang of metal on wood, they hit the thick tree trunk and dropped to the ground with a heavy jolt. Steam was billowing from under the crumpled hood; Hedwig and Demon were shrieking in terror; a golfball-size lump was throbbing on Harry's head where he had hit the windshield; and to his right, Ron let out a low, despairing groan. Duncan was coughing for breath.
"Are you okay?" Harry said urgently. Duncan gave him a coughy "yeah"
"My wand," said Ron, in a shaky voice. "Look at my wand —"
It had snapped, almost in two; the tip was dangling limply, held on by a few splinters.
Harry opened his mouth to say he was sure they'd be able to mend it up at the school, but he never even got started. At that very moment, something hit his side of the car with the force of a charging bull, sending him lurching sideways into Ron, just as an equally heavy blow hit the roof.
"What's happen —?"
Duncan gasped, staring through the windshield, and Harry looked around just in time to see a branch as thick as a python smash into it. The tree they had hit was attacking them. Its trunk was bent almost double, and its gnarled boughs were pummeling every inch of the car it could reach.
"Aaargh!" said Ron as another twisted limb punched a large dent into his door; the windshield was now trembling under a hail of blows from knuckle-like twigs and a branch as thick as a battering ram was pounding furiously on the roof, which seemed to be caving in.
"Run for it!" Ron shouted, throwing his full weight against his door, but next second he had been knocked backward into Harry's lap by a vicious uppercut from another branch.
Duncan' eyes suddenly shone green, wide.
"GIVE ME SOME ROOM!" He yelled, lunging to the front seat as a huge branch crushed the site he had been a moment ago
"We're done for!" he moaned as the ceiling sagged, but suddenly the floor of the car was vibrating — the engine had restarted.
"Reverse!" Harry yelled, and the car shot backward; the tree was still trying to hit them; they could hear its roots creaking as it almost ripped itself up, lashing out at them as they sped out of reach.
"That," panted Ron, "was close. Well done, car —"
The car, however, had reached the end of its tether. With two sharp clunks, the doors flew open and Harry and Duncan felt his seat tip sideways: Next thing he knew he was sprawled on the damp ground. Loud thuds told him that the car was ejecting their luggage from the trunk; Hedwig and Finem's cage flew through the air and burst open; they rose out of it with an angry screech and sped off toward the castle without a backward look. Then, dented, scratched, and steaming, the car rumbled off into the darkness, its rear lights blazing angrily.
"Come back!" Ron yelled after it, brandishing his broken wand. "Dad'll kill me!"
But the car disappeared from view with one last snort from its exhaust.
"Can you believe our luck?" said Ron miserably,
"Come on," said Duncan wearily, "we'd better get up to the school…"
Stiff, cold, and bruised, they seized the ends of their trunks and began dragging them up the grassy slope, toward the great oak front doors.
"I think the feast's already started," said Ron, dropping his trunk at the foot of the front steps and crossing quietly to look through a brightly lit window. "Hey — guys — come and look — it's the Sorting!"
"Hang on…" Duncan muttered to Ron. "There's an empty chair at the staff table… Where's Snape?" Professor Severus Snape was the cousins' least favorite teacher. Harry and Duncan also happened to be Snape's least favorite students. Cruel, sarcastic, and disliked by everybody except the students from his own house (Slytherin), Snape taught Potions.
"Maybe he's ill!" said Ron hopefully.
"Maybe he's left," said Harry, "because he missed out on the Defense Against Dark Arts job again!"
"Or he might have been sacked!" said Duncan enthusiastically. "I mean, everyone hates him —"
"Or maybe," said a very cold voice right behind them, "he's waiting to hear why you three didn't arrive on the school train."
Harry and Duncan spun around. There, his black robes rippling in a cold breeze, stood Severus Snape. He was a thin man with sallow skin, a hooked nose, and greasy, shoulder-length black hair, and at this moment, he was smiling in a way that told Harry he and Ron were in very deep trouble.
"T-T-This is not what it seems." Duncan said nervously
"Follow me," said Snape. Not daring even to look at each other, Harry, Duncan and Ron followed Snape up the steps into the vast, echoing entrance hall, which was lit with flaming torches. A delicious smell of food was wafting from the Great Hall, but Snape led them away from the warmth and light, down a narrow stone staircase that led into the dungeons.
"In!" he said, opening a door halfway down the cold passageway and pointing. They entered Snape's office, shivering
Snape closed the door and turned to look at them.
"So," he said softly, "the train isn't good enough for the famous Harry Potter and his faithful sidekicks Rosenblatt and Weasley. Wanted to arrive with a bang, did we, boys?"
"No, sir, it was the barrier at King's Cross, it —"
"Silence!" said Snape coldly. "What have you done with the car?" Ron gulped. This wasn't the first time Snape had given Duncan the impression of being able to read minds.
But a moment later, he understood, as Snape unrolled today's issue of the Evening Prophet. "You were seen," he hissed, showing them the headline: FLYING FORD ANGLIA MYSTIFIES MUGGLES. He began to read aloud: "Six or seven Muggles in all.
"I noticed, in my search of the park, that considerable damage seems to have been done to a very valuable Whomping Willow," Snape went on.
"That tree did more damage to us than we —" Ron blurted out.
"Silence!" snapped Snape again. "Most unfortunately, you are not in my House and the decision to expel you does not rest with me.
I shall go and fetch the people who do have that happy power. You will wait here." Harry, Duncan and Ron stared at each other, white-faced.
Ten minutes later, Snape returned, and sure enough it was Professor McGonagall who accompanied him. Harry had seen Professor McGonagall angry on several occasions, but either he had forgotten just how thin her mouth could go, or he had never seen her this angry before. She raised her wand the moment she entered; Harry, Duncan and Ron flinched, but she merely pointed it at the empty fireplace, where flames suddenly erupted.
"Sit," she said, and they both backed into chairs by the fire.
"Explain," she said, her glasses glinting ominously.
Ron launched into the story, starting with the barrier at the station refusing to let them through.
"— so we had no choice, Professor, we couldn't get on the train."
"Why didn't you send us a letter by owl? I believe you have an owl?" Professor McGonagall said coldly to Harry. He gaped at her. Now she said it that seemed the obvious thing to have done.
"I — I didn't think —" Duncan stammered
"That," said Professor McGonagall, "is obvious."
There was a knock on the office door and Snape, now looking happier than ever, opened it. There stood the headmaster, Professor Dumbledore. Duncan's whole body went numb. All the things Harry and he had said to him…oh, they were so dead…
There was a long silence. Then Dumbledore said, "Please explain why you did this."
Harry told Dumbledore everything except that Mr. Weasley owned the bewitched car, making it sound as though he and Ron had happened to find a flying car parked outside the station. He knew Dumbledore would see through this at once, but Dumbledore asked no questions about the car.
"Well, you're expelling us, aren't you?" said Ron. Harry and Duncan looked quickly at Dumbledore.
"Not today, Mr. Weasley," said Dumbledore. "But I must impress upon the three of you the seriousness of what you have done. I will be writing to both your families tonight."
"Oh, oh." Duncan and Harry gulped
Snape cleared his throat and said, "Professor Dumbledore, these boys have flouted the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry, caused serious damage to an old and valuable tree — surely acts of this nature —"
"It will be for Professor McGonagall to decide on these boys' punishments, Severus," said Dumbledore, before turning to the boys. "I must warn you that if you do anything like this again, I will have no choice but to expel you."
Snape looked as though Christmas had been canceled.
Snape shot a look of pure venom at Harry, Duncan and Ron as he allowed himself to be swept out of his office, leaving them alone with Professor McGonagall, who was still eyeing them like a wrathful eagle.
"You'd better get along to the hospital wing, Weasley and Rosenblatt, you're bleeding."
"Not much," said Ron, hastily wiping the cut over his eye with his sleeve.
"I'm fine." Said Duncan, trying to wipe the blood that was in his shirt. That had been a nasty crash…
"Professor, I wanted to watch my sister being Sorted —"
"The Sorting Ceremony is over," said Professor McGonagall. "Your sister is also in Gryffindor."
"And speaking of Gryffindor —" Professor McGonagall said sharply, but Harry cut in:
"Professor, when we took the car, term hadn't started, so — so Gryffindor shouldn't really have points taken from it — should it?" he finished, watching her anxiously. Professor McGonagall gave him a piercing look, but he was sure she had almost smiled. Her mouth looked less thin, anyway.
"I will not take any points from Gryffindor," she said, and Harry's heart lightened considerably. "But you will both get a detention." It was better than Harry and Duncan had expected. As for Dumbledore's writing to their Mom…well, they deserved it.
After eating sandwiches McGonagall had conjured for them, they rose and left the office, treading the familiar path to Gryffindor Tower, until at last they reached the passage where the secret entrance to Gryffindor Tower was hidden
"Password?" the Fat Lady said as they approached.
"Er —" said Harry. They didn't know the new year's password, not having met a Gryffindor prefect yet, but help came almost immediately; they heard hurrying feet behind them and turned to see Hermione dashing toward them.
"There you are! Where have you been? The most ridiculous rumors — someone said you'd been expelled for crashing a flying car!"
"Well, we haven't been expelled," Duncan assured her.
"You're not telling me you did fly here?" said Hermione, sounding almost as severe as Professor McGonagall.
"We didn't have a choice." Duncan protested
"Skip the lecture," said Ron impatiently, "and tell us the new password."
"It's 'wattlebird,'" said Hermione impatiently, "but that's not the point —"
Her words were cut short, however, as the portrait of the fat lady swung open and there was a sudden storm of clapping. Arms reached through the portrait hole to pull Harry, Duncan and Ron inside, leaving Hermione to scramble in after them.
"Brilliant!" yelled Lee Jordan. "Inspired! What an entrance! Flying a car right into the Whomping Willow, people'll be talking about that one for years —"
"Good for you," said a fifth year Harry had never spoken to; Fred and George pushed their way to the front of the crowd and said together, "Why couldn't we've come in the car, eh?"
Ron was scarlet in the face, grinning embarrassedly, but Duncan could see one person who didn't look happy at all. Percy was visible over the heads of some excited first years, and he seemed to be trying to get near enough to start telling them off.
Duncan nudged Ron in the ribs and nodded in Percy's direction. Ron got the point at once.
"Got to get upstairs — bit tired," he said, and the two of them started pushing their way toward the door on the other side of the room, which led to a spiral staircase and the dormitories.
"'Night," Harry called back to Hermione, who was wearing a scowl just like Percy's.
They managed to get to the other side of the common room, still having their backs slapped, and gained the peace of the staircase. They entered the familiar, circular room, with its six four-posters hung with red velvet and its high, narrow windows. Their trunks had been brought up for them and stood at the ends of their beds.
Ron grinned guiltily at Harry and Duncan.
"I know I shouldn't've enjoyed that or anything, but…"
The dormitory door flew open and in came the other second year Gryffindor boys, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Neville Longbottom.
"Unbelievable!" beamed Seamus.
"Cool," said Dean.
"Amazing," said Neville, awestruck. Harry and Duncan couldn't help it. They grinned, too.
Well, review, pm, and spread the word
Your favorite dark-eyed,
H. E. B.