"Ugh… I don't understand why we couldn't just put on the feather weight charm." Jason mumbled, fastening his seatbelt as the car sped out of the driveway. Jason looked at the occupants of the seats in the car. Last year, it was just Jake and I, Jason thought. Shelly sat in the front looking at herself in rear view mirror. She was wearing her usual rave getup. Pink wig, yellow glasses, fake eyelashes, pink shirt with a rainbow on it, baggy red jeans with five glow stick holders. She was now going out with Jake. Jason sighed. He wondered how she would fit in at Quesnal. There weren't many ravers there so she would stick out. Especially with that accent. I guess it's the same with Draco, he thought looking to Draco who sat next to him. Draco had his headset on and was listening to a band called "The Business." His black hair matched his black leather jacket. The jacket had spikes covering it along with a few patches. His jacket covered his shirt that had three A's on it. The three A's stood for Against All Authority. Army style cargo pants covered the lower half of his body. Four spikes now stuck from the top four eyes of his boots. The family had a big talk the night before. Draco was now known as Draco Gaffer and Shelly was Shelly Bones.
"Are we there yet?" Jake asked, sarcastically after about thirty seconds of driving.
"Lindbergh Field is about forty-five minutes away." His mom said, looking straight ahead.
"Ahh…"
Unlike most wizard schools that used trains to travel, Mirental used a plane. You had to go to Gate 26 ½ to get in. It was the same basic concept as Platform 9 ¾ that Hogwarts used, but instead of walking through a wall you had to walk through a door. The average muggle could see it if they looked were looking for it, but most just looked around it. Jason thumped his foot to the sound of "Rancid" on his CD player.
"Here we are." Forty-five minutes and about sixty miles later, they pulled into Lindbergh Field. The traffic was unbelievable. It was an ocean of cars.
"Well, this might take a while." Jason said, taking off his headphones and putting them in his backpack. He took his backpack with him wherever he went. It was crammed with CD's, books, and comics. Most of the books were fantasy and science fiction. Jason really enjoyed reading. You wouldn't suspect it if you saw him walking down the street, but he did. The comics were mostly a series called, "PuNK LiFE." It was about the life of this wizard kid named Raf who lives in a squat and has to scrounge food where ever he can find it.
In twenty minutes, the traffic left and they pulled up in front of the airport. A man in a blue suit came up with a cart and tipped his hat. They got out of the car and unloaded their luggage onto the cart. The man helped them and finally when they were finished, the man left to help another group of kids.
"See you in the summer, mom." Jake said.
"Send lot's of owls!" She shouted.
Jake smiled and waved. They then walked into the airport.
"I love the smell of commerce in the morning!" Jason shouted. This got the confused and scared looks of some bystanders, but it got the attention of four other boys.
"Jason!" One yelled.
The four ran over with their carts and luggage. Jason recognized them as a couple of third years. Their names were Tom, Mark, Mike, and Travis. These kids were cool, but they were kind of annoying. Not so much that you couldn't stand to be around them, just enough to make you notice it. They were all skaters. The only clothing they wore or even cared about was Hurley. They all had light hair and dark eyes. They were actually kind of weird, if you noticed their similarities. They were all really talkative, except for Travis. He was Jason's favorite. All he did was stand around, like he was waiting for something. Their DC shoes were all black and they wore shorts.
"Hey, what's up?" Jason asked, giving them all the universal handshake.
"Nothin', we were just about to head over to the gate." Mark said.
"We'll come with you guys." Jake said.
"And who is this?" Tom asked, walking over to Shelly. Jake stopped him.
"My girlfriend, Jason's sister." Jake said, kissing her. Jason shook his head laughing and looked away.
"Oh… Hehehe… Sorry 'bout that." Tom said backing off.
"I didn't know you had a sister or a brother." Mark said, looking towards Draco.
"Oh… This is Draco Gaffer, he's my cousin." Jake said.
"Oh, nice to meat ya." Scott said, shaking his hand.
"Let's get going. We're gonna be late." Tom said, pushing his cart towards the elevator. The rest of them followed suit and they went up the elevator.
"Now, Draco. Your Draco Gaffer, you're from London. You were home schooled and you had to come here because your mom got a job and she can't teach you anymore. Got it?" Jake whispered.
"Draco Gaffer. London. Homeschool. Mom got a job. Had to come here. Alright I got it." Draco said, counting on his fingers.
"There it is." Jason said, pointing to the door between Gates 26 and 27.
"We'll go first." Scott said. Scott, Travis, Tom, and Mark walked through the door. Draco and Shelly followed. Jason and Jake were about to go through when Jason heard his name being called.
"Jason! Jason! Wait up!"
Jason spun around. He saw Paul, Gabe, and Tony, DWFH, running towards him.
"Ah… Jason. We thought we weren't gonna see ya." Gabe said, panting.
"We needed to give you this. It's a map of Mirental. It has all the names of the people in the castle at the time and it has every single secret passageway there is." Paul said, handing him an old piece of parchment.
"Thanks, but we already know every secret passageway…"
"Trust me, you don't." He said.
"When you need to use it, tap it with your wand and say, 'I solemnly swear I'm up to no good,' and when your finished tap it again and say, 'Mischeif Managed.'" Gabe instructed.
"Wow… This is great." Jason said, folding it and putting in his pocket. "Thanks guys!"
"No problem. We gotta go, so we'll contact you about the next show." Tony said.
"Cool." Jake said, and with that they disappeared.
"This year is gonna rule." Jason said, walking in the door.
"Jason! Jake! What's up?" Billy asked, walking up.
"Nothing much." Jake said.
"Where's Harry and Liz?" Jason asked.
"Harry decided to stay at Hogwarts and Liz is over there with Lucky, Scott, Draco, Shelley and Eric." Billy said, gesturing towards a row of seats where they sat. The room was actually filled with rows. There was one huge door and a box to put your luggage. The door led to the plane. Jason and Jake walked over and put their bags in the big box. It looked small from the outside but on the inside it was huge. Jason left Jake to go on with the others, but he walked over to a different row. This row was empty and Jason wanted to get some reading in. He sat down and pulled out a book. The book was called, "The Philosophy of Punk, More than Just Noise." He indulged in reading for about fifteen minutes before his concentration was distracted.
"Ahh… Jason… My Anarchist little buddy." Steve said, walking up and sitting down in the unoccupied seat next to Jason.
Jason set down the book.
"How goes it Steve?" Jason asked, looking over at him.
"It goes quite well, thank you very much."
Now Steve wasn't an Anarchist. He was one of those Oi Metal Punk guys. Oi was rightwing punk. They played soccer and drank beer and fought a lot. Jason had a problem with these kids because they often supported the Skinhead point of view, and Jason hated Nazi Punks, so he didn't get along with them much. Steve also believed in structure and government, unlike Jason who was into the freethinking Anarchist point of view. Steve was a fellow Quesnal, a Seventh year. Jason and Steve stayed up late at night in the Quesnal common room, having long debates, arguments and talks about Anarchy and government. These debates drew large crowds sometimes, and some were even taped and filmed. It wasn't that they didn't like each other, in fact they were good friends, but their separate views contradicted each other so much that conflict was unavoidable.
"How was your summer?" Jason asked.
"It was alright I guess. Played some soccer, went to a couple shows. Same old, same old." Steve said. "And you?"
"Ugh… Let's see. Got a contract with X-7. Freed Sirius Black. Met Harry Potter. Got in a couple fights. You know, same old, same old." Jason said.
"I heard about that Sirius Black thing. Must have been pretty gross to see Pettigrew splatter his brains all over the courtroom." Steve shuddered.
"Yeah, it was tense."
Jason and Steve sat in silence, both in deep thought.
"The Mirental Express will be leaving in twenty minutes. Now boarding, Relerse." The PA system boomed.
Every year it was the same. Relerse went first. They got the best seats. They got the best service. Relerse were a bunch of snobs. They were upper class. Most of them came from Beverly Hills and all the small towns that were "unamericanized." The head of their house was Professor Cooper. He was the slicked back preppy Herbology teacher.
"Now boarding, Laversque."
The Laversque weren't preppy, they were just extremely smart. They were the studious group, and they hated Quesnal with a passion. Quesnal was all about having fun and partying, but all Laversque did was study, study, study. Their head of the house was Professor Holland. He was alright, but he was pretty hard on the Quesnal's. He taught Potions. Jason was almost put in Laversque, but do to the fact that his partying punk ways outmatched his enormous intelligence, he was placed in Quesnal. Jason's steady girlfriend for two years, Judy, was in this house along with Jake's old girlfriend, Deidre. Judy was not like most of the Laversque's. She would come to the parties and have a good time, but she was extremely smart. Deidre was kind of a brat. She was Laversque incarnate. Jason wondered how Deidre would feel when she saw Jake with Shelley. Jason looked around, but couldn't see Judy anywhere.
"Now boarding, Treznalo."
Treznalo and Quesnal were kind of like the brother groups. They went to each other's parties freely and there was no animosity. The Treznalo's were activists. They were against any form of racism, fascism, homophobia, or bigotry. Most of them were African-American, but some were white or Spanish. Jason remembered when their head of house, Professor Logan, handed out t-shirts to everyone that said, "Free Mumia" on them. Mumia Abu-Jamal was a man put on death row for a crime that he did not commit. Evidence and eyewitnesses disappeared. Randallo was outraged, when he found out. Professor Logan was probably Jason's favorite professor. He taught Defense against the Dark Arts.
"Now boarding, Quesnal."
Ah… Quesnal… Quesnal was his house. The Quesnal's were all about having fun and partying. There was a party in the common room at least once a week. The Quesnal consisted of ravers, punks, swing kids, and any other alternative lifestyle you could think of. The punks were the dominant factor though. Their head of the house was Professor Armstrong. He was an old school kind of punk with long hair that came down in a strip in the front. It was called a devil lock. He was pretty scary and he taught Divination, which was Jason's absolute least favorite subject.
"That's us." Steve said, standing up. Jason put his book into his backpack and swung it on to his back. He stood up and walked towards the huge door. The door led into a hall way, with a carpet floor and white walls. At the end of the hallway, there was the door that led into the plane. Jason walked alone into the plane. In order to get to the back of the plane, Jason had to walk by every single house. First, the Relerse, who scoffed and laughed at them. Second, the Laversque, where Jason finally saw his girlfriend and waved. She stood up and ran over.
"Jason! I missed you so much!" She said, hugging him.
"Me too." He said, hugging her back.
"Aw… Move along." Steve mocked that he cared.
Jason laughed.
"See you as soon as we land." Jason said, letting her go with a kiss.
"Alright." She said, going back to sit down.
Jason continued his walking. He walked into the Treznalo section and slapped hands with some friends, who were already dancing to a ghetto blaster someone was playing. He walked into his section and walked to the very back row. There were three seats there. One was already occupied.
"What's up Tom?" Jason asked.
"Nothin'." Tom answered.
Tom wasn't an Anarchist, actually he wasn't even a punk. Tom was in to women, but not in a macho jerky kind of way. He was a true romantic. He'd gotten the hell beaten out of him for being gay several times, which he wasn't. He had bleached hair, but covered it up with a brown swinger's cap. He had a collared silk shirt with dice and a martini glass on it. His baggy black pants covered up his well-polished nice shoes. He was a fifth year.
"So, did you hear about Black?" Tom asked.
"I was there."
"Oh, yeah… Must have been gross to see Pettigrew blow his brains out." Tom said.
"Yeah…" Jason trailed off.
Tom took off his hat and took something out of it.
"Look at this." He said, holding the small bag out to Jason.
"Whoa… Are these from the new Napalm line?" Jason asked, referring to the new line of fire works just released.
"Yeah, they're the best. You can have one if you want." He said.
"Yeah, right. I could never take one of those from you." Jason said.
"Dude, don't worry about it. I've got thousands. It's rad. When you light 'em, they shoot fire straight up and spin around. It's really cool when you make a hole line of 'em and light 'em. It looks like a wall of fire. They last for over a minute too." Tom said, handing one to Jason.
"Thanks." Jason said, making sure to pocket it in the pocket that didn't hold his wand.
"So, what did you do this summer?" Tom asked.
"Oh, dude. I got a contract for the band on X-7." Jason said.
"Whoa! X-7? That's so cool!" Tom said.
"I know. We played on the X-7 tour for one show." Jason reported.
"Sweet!" Tom said, totally shocked.
"Put your tray table's up and your chair in the full upright position. Fasten your safety belts." The PA system instructed.
A young boy came running back and jumped in the seat next to Jason. Jason recognized him as the boy he had met in Ollivander's wand shop, Martin Andrews. He was wearing a pair of blue shorts, with a small chain wallet. His shirt said Green Day on it and his hair was spiked up. He was a little overweight.
"Hey! You're Jason Bones." Martin pointed out.
"Yep, that's me."
"I met you in Ollivanders." He said.
"Yep, you sure did."
Martin was silent.
The plane took off.
**************
"…and then we escaped the evil clutches of you-know-who, went to a trial, freed Sirius Black, went to a concert, and went home." Eric finished the story. "Did I mention that I knocked out a guard?"
"YES!" The crowd shouted.
"Oh, just making sure."
The crowd faded away from Eric, Scott, Draco, Shelley, Liz, Jake, Jason, Lucky, and Billy. Eric had just finished retelling the story from his perspective, excluding the part about Draco. Jason sipped his coke.
"Whoa… That'll be a good story to tell the grand kids." Jason said.
"Yeah." Eric agreed.
"So, how much longer 'til we get there?" Scott asked, shifting his golf hat to the side.
"About five minutes." Jason said, looking at his watch.
"Sweet."
Almost on cue, the PA system blared.
"Please return to your seats, and prepare to land."
Jason tipped his head and walked back to his seat. Tom lay asleep with his feet on the back of the chair in front of him. Martin had his knees tucked into his chest and his face buried in his knees, snoring loudly. Jason snickered and woke him up.
"Whu…" He asked sitting straight up.
"We're gonna land soon." Jason said.
"Oh… Thanks." He said, stretching.
Jason sat down in his chair, and nudged Tom.
"Three cups of rat's hair." He mumbled.
Jason laughed out loud and pushed him.
"I'm up." He said, sitting up.
"We're about to land." Jason said.
"Oh."
Jason snapped on his seatbelt. He leaned back in the chair. This year is gonna rule, he thought. With that map, I'll be able to see Judy every night. This is gonna be so rad, he thought. He looked out the window. He could see the desert end and the forest begin. They were in the middle of the desert of Nevada. Five miles from Las Vegas.
He felt the jolt in his stomach. They were on there way down. He grabbed the side of his chair. He hated landings. They made him want to puke.
"Welcome to West Eredids. First years, Shelley Bones, and Draco Gaffer, follow Professor Logan, he will lead you where to go. The rest of you now what to do."
The plane touched down. Jason shook violently. The plane sped up and then began to decelerate.
"Ahh…" Jason wiped his forehead.
"Please wait for the plane to come to a complete stop."
Jason waited for the plane to stop and then he took off his safety belt and ran to the front of the plane. The rest of Quesnal followed his lead. The entire house ran down the aisle's to make sure they didn't have to wait for every other house to get off. He walked down the steps and into the cool breeze of West Eredids. The horse carts stood ready and Jason walked over to one. Judy, Eric, Scott, Liz, Jake, Lucky, and Billy followed him. Draco and Shelly followed Professor Logan and the first years. The rest of them got on the cart and were ready to go. The driver whipped the horse and they were off.
"So, I heard you had an interesting summer." Judy said.
"Yeah, I'll explain it to you later." Jason said, wrapping his arm around her.
"Ok." She agreed, lying on Jason.
"This year will be fun." Jason said.
"Why's that?" Judy asked, looking up to him.
"I'll be able to see you every night." Jason said.
"How?"
"I'll explain that later too." He said.
"There it is." Lucky said, pointing.
Jason looked out and saw the view of Mirental for the fourth time. The enormous gray castle stood on top of a large hill. Four towers were at each side. Each with a different colored flag. Blue, purple, green, and red. The front doors stood ominously. The cart rode up and dropped them off. The group walked up to the doors.
"Ah… We're finally home."