DON'T KILL ME!

Yes, I know I haven't posted in ages, but I've been busy.

...

That was a terrible excuse, but I'm sticking to it. Sorry!

Anyway, hello all! Enjoying it all so far? Good? Bad? Want to throw your laptop out the window? If yes to the first, great! If yes to the second two, sorry, but I'm gonna ignore you and carry on. We clear? Great!

You know the disclaimer. I own Lorcan, Harry O'Connor and Lorcan.

Peace,

Ciara xxx

"This sucks!" Seamus crossed his arms over his chest. "Why can't we go to Hogsmeade?"

"Because we're first years," Lorcan reminded him, not looking up from his book.

"How can you just sit there?" Liz fell to her knees as if fatally wounded, supporting herself with the back of Lorcan's armchair. "The stories I've heard about that place, the times Sirius has rubbed it in my face…"

"Try hearing it from five older brothers," Ron grumbled from the other side of the room.

"I'll be hearing it from six next year," Ginny countered, but fell silent and turned back to the map as Harry came down from the boys' dorm, the latter clutching a piece of parchment and looking excited. It was the same as every other time when Harry was around.

"Liz!" Harry practically yelled. It was a good thing everyone else was either at Hogsmeade or somewhere else, or there would be a lot of odd looks.

"What?" said girl jumped up from her 'dying' position on the floor. The older boy surprised her by pulling her into a bone-crushing hug.

Harry broke off the hug, looked at Liz intently and said, "Christmas, 1984."

For a minute, Liz stared at Harry. Then, she began to laugh. Seconds later, Harry joined in, and they were soon two heaps of giggles on the floor.

"What the devil is going on?" Seamus asked Ron. The latter shrugged helplessly.

The two finally sat up and grinned. "I knew I'd seen you somewhere before," Liz gasped for air.

"Me too. Your mum was an Evans? Just to be sure."

"Yes!"

"Ha!" and he hugged her all over again.

"Can someone please tell us what's going on?" Hermione stood up, exasperated.

Harry wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. "Liz's mum was Lily Evans, who was sister to Petunia Evans, who married Vernon Dursley, who was brother to Scarlett Dursley, who married Matthew O'Connor."

Ginny's eyes widened as she looked between the two.

Seamus was slowly realising as well. "So, you're related?"

"Yes!" Liz laughed.

"So, what's Christmas, 1984?" Lorcan asked.

"Well, Grandma Lottie, my mum's mum, she had some sort of cancer. No," Liz waved off the looks of pity, "I don't remember her that well. But she was really nice. She made Mum and Petunia bring their families to her house every Christmas, even after my parents died. Sirius and Remus would bring me along; Grandma Lottie thought that magic was brilliant, and Sirius said she adored me." She sat up very straight at this, clearly proud at this little fact. "She certainly liked me more than Dudley. But, when Petunia and the Dursleys came that year, there was another boy, about a year older than me, with a head of wild black hair." Harry grinned sheepishly. "I was four, and the boy was five. I never heard his name because the Dursleys called him 'boy' and when the others said anything to him, I wasn't really listening.

"There must've been a lot of magic in the air, with Sirius, Remus and me there. I regrew Grandma Lottie's roses; I remember thinking it was such a shame that they were dying, and I wanted them to live longer; so they re-bloomed. The boy didn't like the fact that they were pink, and turned them red, and I changed a few more of them to be gold."

Harry laughed. "Petunia and Vernon's faces! Dudley was so mad because I was doing something he couldn't so he threw the vase on the floor. It shattered and a piece pricked him in the toe; next thing he's on the floor, howling like someone shot him!" He shook his head. "Naturally, Aunt Petunia was so worried about her little 'Dudders' that we were taken straight home, and Petunia and Vernon whisked his royal fatness of to the hospital."

Liz was about to ask why he hadn't come to previous Christmas get-togethers when she heard a sharp intake of breath. She looked over at Ginny who was wide-eyed at the map.

"What, Gin-ack!" Seamus was being yanked along by his collar and the other two quickly followed.

It wasn't until they were halfway up the boy dormitory stairs that Ginny stopped, letting go of Seamus. The latter rubbed his sore neck.

"Okay, Ginny; what's up?" Lorcan sighed.

Ginny silently pointed at the map, at a passage. One behind a statue of an ugly witch. That led right out of the castle towards-

"Hogsmeade!" Seamus jumped up and down with joy. "Liz, I love your dad and uncles!"

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Hogsmeade had been a blast. Of course, they were skirting round prefects and teachers half the time, but it was fun. They'd snuck into Honeyduke's and bought dozens of sweets, enough to last them until Halloween… that is, if they didn't give themselves a sugar rush first. Zonko's was great; though Liz still had her stuff from the mega deluxe set, she knew that you could never have enough stink bombs. In they went with the rucksack of sugared treats.

As they came out of the passage and into Hogwart's once more, Ginny and Seamus battling about the better hair colour, Liz tried to convince Lorcan that pranks were the best things since Quidditch (but Quidditch came out on top every time).

"But why?" Liz whined.

"Because I don't want to risk detention or expulsion!" Lorcan looked around. "I think we're on the third floor. We shouldn't be here."

"You act way too mature for an eleven year old," Liz sighed. "We will corrupt you!"

Lorcan halted. "Liz."

"I'm not kidding; we will corrupt you and bring you to our level!" Liz flung her hands out dramatically.

"Liz," Lorcan interrupted. "It's Mrs Norris." He pointed behind her and she turned to see a tawny cat in the doorway. It arched its back and hissed.

The four ran.

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Seamus slammed against the door. "It won't open," he hissed.

"Move over," Lorcan shoved him out of the way. "Alohamora." The door opened with a click and the group slipped inside. Ginny immediately pressed her eye to the keyhole.

"See anything?" Liz whispered. Seamus turned to look at the room. And stopped.

"Filch," Ginny replied. "But he's leaving."

"Why would this door be locked?" Liz wondered. "What's in here?"

"Maybe because of this?" Seamus whimpered. The other three first years spun round.

There was an enormous mound of darkness lying in the middle of the room.

It was waking up.

The kids could only watch in terrified silence as it rose up to a towering height, and three pairs of eyes flicked open. Three noses sniffed the air in suspicion. And three jaws of teeth growled in unision.

Ginny, Seamus, Lorcan and Liz screamed and scrambled for the door. Once all four students were on the safer side of the door, they managed to shove the door shut- this was a big achievement considering that a Cerberus was trying to get through the door as well.

Once again, they ran.

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The foursome burst into the common room. The twins looked from the corner, slightly bemused. They chose to ignore the panting first years.

"Three," Seamus gasped. "Three..."

"That was awesome!" Liz proclaimed. The others looked at her in astonishment. "I mean, it was scary at the time, but one of those ones you look back on and think 'hey, that was pretty cool'. You guys know the feeling, right?" She was met with blank faces. "No? Just me? Okay."

"Didn't you guys see?" Lorcan asked.

"See what?" Ginny raised an eyebrow. "The thing trying to eat us?"

"No, its feet."

"Why would we be looking at it's feet?" Seamus cried. "Heads- remember the heads!"

"No, its paw was on a door. A trapdoor."

"So, you think..." Liz trailed off.

Lorcan nodded. "It's guarding something."

"Or someone," Seamus added in a weird voice. The other three raised eyebrows.

"No? Too much? Okay."

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