Year 2 Part 2
My Mom gave me the money I would need, and handed my sister hers. She was eleven now and would be needing to get a few things. She'd be using some of my old books and equipment, but she'd still need a wand and robes. My Mom made us promise to stick together but I knew that wouldn't last five minutes. Not only did I not want to cart her around, she was the independent sort. She'd probably ditch me before we even got there.
I wasn't super thrilled with my scores. I would just have to try extra hard to do better next year. My parents didn't really care as long as I passed everything, but I'd expected much more of myself than I'd done.
Having Keeli around was a riot. She was completely perplexed by every inch of our house. I had warned my parents in advance and they were very patient in answering all her questions. She was forced to share my bed as my house was packed to the rafters with kids as it was, but she didn't seem to mind. She played with my sisters in the garden while I tended my plants. She had brought a football with her and she showed us how to kick it around. I wasn't one for sports but it was fun spending time with her and my sisters out in the yard. At night after dinner we worked in the living room on our reading for school while the other girls went to sleep. Sometimes my Mom would bring us hot chocolate and talk with us a little bit about her time at Hogwarts back when dinosaurs walked the earth and Celestina Warbeck was cool.
Friday came and the second our Dad got to work Keeli and I were off like bullets in the still sleepy street, splitting ways with my sister at the first sidewalk. Keeli and I went to the tea shop to have breakfast together. She told me about her trip for the dozenth time and we talked about our classes for next year. Honestly we were just waiting for third year, as that was when we got to choose our electives.
After breakfast we headed over to Ollivander's where Cad was helping his Mom at the counter with my sister's wand. He waved and walked over to us.
"Long time no see guys." he smiled.
We enveloped him in a hug as we talked over each other. Before we made another move Molly and Matthew had walked in, joining the celebration. Damian and Louk arrived together as usual, with Amber rounding out the group with a flying hug.
We started at one end of Diagon Alley and worked our way around. Our lists weren't horribly long but we still wanted to go into almost every store to stretch out the day. The bookstore was the easiest, as we were reusing most of the books we'd gotten last year. Transfiguration was the only one that needed a new one and it wasn't even that big. The Apothecary took a little longer, mostly because I wanted to buy everything. They made sure I stuck to my list before dragging me away from the exotic ingredients section. In the Quidditch shop Damian and Louk spent twenty minutes browsing around the brooms.
"Thinking about getting one?" I asked Louk as he was looking over one of the racing-style ones.
"Well, I need a new one if I want to make the team this year."
"Aren't brooms expensive?" I looked over at the tag to answer my own question. Yes, they were very expensive. My entire school budget wouldn't pay for a fraction of it. "Eight hundred Galleons?!"
"Well, when you want world class you have to pay for it." he leaned over it and peered at the tail.
"I wish I could afford one of these." Cad looked at it dreamily. "I'm still on my Dad's old Nimbus 2000."
"That's a good one. I'm only on a 2001." Molly sidled over. "It's all about the player, not the broom.
"Keep saying that, as I leave you in the dirt." Damian smirked as he walked up with a wrapped package.
"Did you get one too?" Cad inched towards the new purchase. "Want to show us?"
Damian obliged, peeling back the brown paper. In my opinion, it looked painful to sit on. The handle was black as night, and thorny twigs in the tail I thought might be rose stems. The shaft of the broom also had wooden thorns like some kind of medieval weapon.
"It's a Transylvanian Barb. This one was in the World Cup a few years ago." he said proudly.
"Looks painful." I commented.
"Well, the barbs are more for show. And we're wearing gloves, so it really doesn't matter."
"What do you think, mate?" Louk waved Damian over. "The Thunderbolt IX? They say they've fixed the safety of the VII, and the performance issues of the VIII."
"Looks good to me. I mean, we'll win either way." he smirked at the Gryffindors.
"You wish, hot rod. I'll get a new broom next year. Just you wait." Amber flipped her hair and walked away.
Louk bought his broom, as well as some gloves. The others followed suit with some miscellaneous Quidditch supplies before finally agreeing we could move on. The Weasley shop took us a while too because we browsed all the jokes and tricks they had to offer.
Between the lot of us we bought a package of Canary Creams (in case we needed someone to turn into a large canary for a few minutes), two sets of Extendable Ears (for eavesdropping opportunities), a handful of Spell Checking Quills, a reusable Hangman, and a Daydream Charm for each of us as a gift from Amber.
We were all hungry by this point and stopped in the Leaky Cauldron for lunch. We weren't the only ones, and were shoved next to some other patrons in the dining room as we scarfed down the soup and bread. Then it was back at it to get the rest of our supplies. Parchment and ink was a necessity, as was an hour in Sugarplum's Sweet Shop stocking up on our favorites. I saw Louk grab three boxes of Glacial Snow Flakes and grinned.
"They're not half bad, okay? And I figured you'll steal half of them from me on the train so I'm just preparing." I gave him a dramatic wink as I picked up a box for myself.
By now our arms hurt from carrying everything around all day, and our feet hurt from walking so much. The last stop was Eeylops for owl care supplies and we called it a day. We said goodbye to the others before following Cad to his house to waste a little extra time. We had about an hour to kill before my Dad got off of work. Cad gave us a tour of the shop and we looked at all the wands him and his family had made. It was finally time to leave and he engulfed us both in a hug.
"I guess I'll see you guys in a couple days?"
"Absolutely." we smiled and waved.
My Dad and sister were ready to go once we got to the transportation station and the ride home went quickly. It was a feat of the ages that we managed to shove our purchases in our already stuffed trunks, but somehow we managed it. Keeli offered to help my mom and I cook dinner and it was fun just us three talking for a while.
Monday rolled around and we once again hauled our trunks to the train station platform with the gleaming scarlet engine. My sister was all eyes as our Mom said her usual goodbyes. We separated the second we could, Keeli and I heading to our usual compartment. We were the first ones there so we settled down with our new textbooks for some reading. Louk walked in next and we immediately started talking about the new year.
Of course he hadn't done any of his work and I agreed to meet him in the library after dinner to help him cram it all in before the first day. Despite his nonchalant attitude about his work, I got the feeling there was a deeper reason than laziness behind his uncompleted tasks. But Damian walked in and my mind was quickly driven from the topic as we placed bets on which one of the others would get on the Quidditch team this year.
We started an epic game of hangman with our new Weasley toy. I had them stumped for a solid half hour on 'sphynx'. That poor little man didn't stand a chance. Then as the trolley came around we relaxed into trading Wizards' cards and chasing our Chocolate Frogs around. We saw the usual land marks and once again tried our best not to knock someone out getting into our robes.
Everyone was buzzing with excitement as we got off the carriages and walked to the Great Hall. While it could never compare to the first time I saw it a year ago, it was still breathtaking. The candles floated in midair and the stars twinkled in the sky. Keeli and I sat together at the Ravenclaw table, chatting about the new year.
The first years walked in with Professor Potter and stood at the front of the Hall. I watched my sister get sorted into Slytherin which came as absolutely no surprise. After that Headmistress McGonagall stood from her seat.
"Welcome, first years, and welcome back to the rest of you. I know you are all eager to get this year started but I have a few announcements before we begin our Feast. It brings me the utmost pleasure to announce that this Christmas, Hogwarts will be playing host to a charity ball which will feature the musical group The Ides of March."
Whispers erupted on this and saw a few kids leaning their heads together to have conversations.
"This ball will only be accessible by those students who are fourth years and above, and tickets will be sold by your head of house. There will be others outside of the school who are invited, so I expect you all to be on your best behaviors. That is all." she clapped her hands.
Everyone's first instinct was to turn to their friends. "Oh come on. They're my favorite!" Dorothy, one of the Ravenclaw girls in our year who shared our dorm, moaned. "Why do the older classmen get to have all the fun?"
"Because, we've just come through our O.W.L.s. We need a break after that." one of the older Ravenclaw boys chuckled. "Don't worry though. They do these things every few years."
"But will it my favorite band next time?" Dorothy mumbled.
We eventually turned to the delicious food and stuffed ourselves full once more. As we were dismissed I ducked out of the herd heading upstairs to make my way to the library. Louk was already there, looking at the locked doors.
"Looks like they don't want us studying." he smirked before pulling out his wand. "Alohomora."
We snuck into the deserted library, locking the door behind us. It was thoroughly more creepy being shrouded in darkness and completely empty. We crept our way over to the furthest corner we could find before lighting a lamp. Louk dug around in his bag for something before pulling it out and placing it on the counter. I lit the lamp at the table, illuminating the Sneakoscope.
"This should tell us if anyone who would get us in trouble is around."
"I didn't know you carried it around with you." I smirked.
"Well, what else am I supposed to do with it? It's so small if I put it in my trunk it'll be lost." he gently snapped.
We sat down and started on his work, using my completed work as a guide. I usually took notes while I did the readings, and he read these over while I worked on his essays. It must have been easily one in the morning when the Sneakoscope lit up and started spinning.
Louk's hand shot out and snatched it off the table while I extinguished the lamp with the wave of my wand. We shoved our things in our bags and shrank back into the darkest corner we could find.
I leaned up to Louk's ear, grumbled he was still taller than me, before whispering as quietly as I could. "What do we do?"
"Hang on." he fumbled around and pulled out his wand. He whispered a few words I couldn't hear as he twirled his wand around himself. Then he turned the wand on me, tapping me sharply on the head. I felt a cold sensation run down my body, like a large monster was drooling on my head. He wrapped his arms around me and we tried to make ourselves as small as possible.
Not a moment too soon. We watched lamplight inch closer before Filch stepped around the corner. He didn't seem to be suspicious, barely looking in each nook as he passed by. We watched him give a huge yawn before turning around and walking away. We let out our held breathe as we heard the library doors swing shut. We stepped out of the dark corner, pulling away from each other. I lit my wand before looking down at myself.
Only it wasn't myself. I could see the outline of my body, but I was almost invisible. Looking down through my legs I could see every detail of the floor directly below me. Whenever I moved, there was a slight delay in my body's camouflaging detail.
"What did you do to me?" I was still whispering.
"Disillusionment Charm. You aren't the only one capable of working ahead, Ms. Potions Expert." I heard the smirk in his voice to my annoyance.
"How long will this last?"
"Seeing as I'm twelve, not long. We should probably head to our common rooms anyway. I appreciate your help. I will give you your notes back tomorrow morning at breakfast."
I felt his hand reach out and take mine, and it was nice to know where he was. We walked out of the library, checking around every corner for Filch as we made it to the staircase.
"See you tomorrow." I whispered as I slipped my hands out of his and climbed.
As I reached the door knocker I strained my ears for a minute before reaching up for it. The banging seemed like it reached all the way down to the Headmistresses Office and I hoped the riddle was an easy one.
"I am a bird, but I cannot fly. Much more at home in the water than in the sky. What am I?"
"Penguin." I said quickly, thanking the riddle gods.
"Correct."
It swung open and I dove inside. No one was in the common room as my luck held out, and I crept up to the staircases. I opened the first door I came to out of habit before realizing it was the first year dorm. And man were those first years on high alert. The second the door opened so much as a crack all five of their heads whipped around to look.
"Hello?" one of them asked.
I froze before realizing they couldn't see me. Edging out of the door frame, I slowly closed it again before running up to the next door. I heard them all run upstairs after that, probably to find the Prefect. My trunk was at the foot of the bed by the door again, and I slipped between the covers to try and pretend to be asleep. I heard our door open while I guessed the Prefects checked to see that everyone was in their beds. I tried to steady my breathing, hoping at least my head was at least visible now. The door creaked closed and I blew a sigh of relief.
