Okay, so this will be split into two parts, and I'll try to make the other summaries shorter. If it'll work or not is a different story.
AND someone else tells the story for a bit!
Disclaimer: OWN NOTHING!
Sirius POV
"Bella, you promised you'd tell us!" Alice Cullen reminded Bella for the tenth time since we got back to the Burrow.
"Wait until Harry and Ron get down here," she said.
"Bella, a promise is a promise, so start talking!" Emmett said with raised eyebrows. My niece turned to me with pleading eyes. I shook my head.
"She's scared," Jasper noted.
"Of course she's scared to tell you guys! She wonders how you'll all react," Hermione groaned from her bed. We were in Percy's old room. "Bella, just start without the guys."
"We haven't heard about your first two years, either." I pointed to Remus and myself. "Why not?"
Bella blushed deeply. "That's cause I know you'll overreact."
"We won't overreact. Edward will overreact." Rosalie rolled her eyes. Edward's head snapped around to face her.
"With perfectly good reason."
"Edward, she is not some china doll that can just sit on-"
"Actually, he does have a reason to be worried. What with Fluffy in first year, the basilisk in second-" Hermione smirked as Bella turned to her friend. Remus and I were as still as the vampires.
"Fluffy?" Remus asked.
"A basilisk?" I hissed.
"What's a basilisk?" Esme asked, worried.
"A giant snake that kills you if you so much as meet its eyes for a second and has poisonous fangs. It's capable of living for a long time, and it. Is. Huge." Fifty feet long and thirty feet tall fully grown. I turned to Remus and saw that he was almost as pale as the Cullens.
"Harry fought it, not me," Bella muttered.
"You and Harry weren't hurt, were you?" Carlisle asked.
"Of course Harry was. Bella just got knocked unconscious for a while," Hermione supplied.
"Traitor," Bella hissed. "Alice, can I have my wand back now?" she added, glancing at the wand in Alice's pocket. She had taken it when Bella pulled it out to stop Alice from asking her about her school years.
"No!" Alice- all of us, really- were upset at this.
"You will only get it back once you have told us about your first two years," Remus said. "Reasonable?" Always the peacemaker.
Alice nodded willingly, and Bella just sighed. She got up and stuck her head out the door to shout up the stairs.
"Harry! Ron! Get your lazy butts down here!" Remus and the Cullens winced. "If you are not down here in ten seconds, I'll have Emmett fetch you! And you would not want that."
A door slammed, and soon footsteps were running toward Percy's old room.
"Bella, love, try to remember most of us have sensitive hearing," Edward said, rubbing his ear.
"Sorry." Bella sat down in a huff on the bed again. Edward wrapped his arms around her.
"Three…two…" Alice counted down and just as she reached one, Harry flew into the room. Ron was right on his tail and Emmett had to grab the back of his shirt to stop Ron from knocking into Harry.
"Sorry, Bella, we were packing," Ron told her.
"Why? We don't leave for almost two weeks," Bella said.
"He doesn't want to face everyone's wrath when they learn the boys accidentally-"
Ron cut Hermione off hurriedly. "Can we just get started? I don't want to die yet."
Edward's face turned stone cold. Bella put her hand against his cheek and shook her head slightly when he met her eyes. His eyes were almost black, so he must have been extremely ticked.
Bella POV
Ron and Harry will never know how close they just came to having Edward kill them. Locking Hermione and I in the bathroom with the troll was not the smartest move on their part, but at least I had my wits about me. Then again, how much harm can one first year do to a troll?
"Shall we get started?" Carlisle asked. Sirius and Remus conjured chairs to sit in- why they didn't do that sooner, though, was anyone's guess. Ron sat next to Hermione and Harry sank down against the wall.
I looked at my mortal friends. "Train ride?"
Ron and Hermione shook their heads. "Backgrounds."
Harry closed his eyes and pursed his lips. He never talked about his life with the Dursleys- I mean, who would?- and the only things we knew were that his aunt, uncle, and cousin, had a strange aversion to magic.
"I already told them you were a Muggle-born. Ron's a pureblood, and Harry and I are both half-bloods. Renee is a Squib- magical family, no magic herself- and Charlie is a Muggle. Lily was a Muggle-born, James was a pureblood." (A/N: I don't know if the child of a Squib and a Muggle would be a half-blood or not, but go with me here. Thanks!)
"But his family wasn't like most other pureblood families, who thought they were better than everyone else. In fact, they were like the Weasleys," Remus cut in.
Alice got up and opened the door. Ginny stood right outside, hand raised to knock. She blushed and muttered a greeting before sitting next to Harry.
"What are you doing?"
"Telling them about our time at Hogwarts," Ron said. "Now scram."
"She can listen if she wants to," Esme objected. Ron opened his mouth to argue, but she gave him her best Don't-Argue-With-Me look.
"How do you do that?" Harry asked, amazed. Ginny laughed.
"Years and years of practice," Emmett, Esme, and Jasper said together. I shook my head.
"How did you guys find out you were wizards?" Carlisle asked.
Hermione giggled. Harry just shook his head while Ron rolled his eyes.
"I figured out I was different when this girl who was picking on me one day turned completely green and orange!"
Alice shivered. "It must have looked terrible."
Hermione nodded, laughing again.
"I was reaching for a model of a broomstick Charlie got me for Christmas one day and it just floated down to me. No one was in the room with me, or in the hallway." Ron shrugged. "Ginny set Fred's toy broom on fire when he stole her doll and hid them."
I turned to my friend, who was blushing but said, "He shouldn't have messed with my doll!"
Edward whispered in my ear, "It was a Harry Potter doll."
I snorted. "Explains a lot," I replied. Emmett laughed. Ginny scowled at us.
"How'd Bella find out?" Alice asked.
I smirked vindictively. "Remus decided to pull a Halloween prank on me when I was five."
Sirius clapped Remus on the shoulder, but Remus shook his head. "You threw me in a cage, Bella."
"Not my fault you decided to jump out dressed like the Grim Reaper with a scythe in your hand, Remus," I retorted.
I walked downstairs, excited that Uncle Remus was here to take me trick-or-treating. He visited once in a while, but he never stayed long. This was the first time he had ever stayed for Halloween. My fairy wings fluttered behind me, and my short green dress swirled around my knees.
"Uncle Remus!"I called. "Are you ready to go?"
I walked into the living room. It was dark, except for a few candles lit in various places around the room. Uncle Remus wasn't there. "Uncle Remus? Where are you?"
I looked everywhere, but I couldn't find him. Just as I was about to leave, something moved out of the corner of my eye. I turned around, and a man in a big black cloak with a long metal thing appeared out of nowhere! I screamed and light filled the room. Not golden light, not ice blue light, but a strange purple light. I squeezed my eyes shut. When the light faded, my mom was in the room and the man had been thrown to the floor on the other side of the room, encased in a prison of ice. The metal thing was where the man was standing earlier. Mom just looked at me with a face like a fish.
The man in the ice cage spoke. "Renee, she has some powerful magic!" He pulled his face off- wait, it was just a mask!
"Uncle Remus!" I screeched. "What'd you do that for?"
He grinned at me sheepishly. "Happy Halloween."
A piece of ice broke off and hit him on the head.
"Man, I wish I could have seen your face!" Ron wheezed through his laughter.
"Wow, Bella. You had powerful magic, even as a kid," Sirius said, impressed.
Remus scowled. "Okay, Harry's turn."
Harry shrugged, a smile on the corners of his mouth. "I turned my teacher's wig blue, got up on the roof of school somehow-"
"Flew," Sirius, Remus, and I said at once.
"Apparrated," Ron, Hermione, and Ginny argued.
"Did it feel like you were being squeezed through a tube?" Remus asked.
Harry shook his head.
"Hah! He flew," I said proudly.
"How do you know how to Apparrate? I didn't think you had your license yet?" Hermione asked.
"The rules are different in the States; you can get your Apparrating license at sixteen," I told her.
"-and I set a python on my cousin Dudley," Harry continued as if he had never been interrupted.
Ron and I cackled with mirth, even though we'd heard it before. Ron, because he had seen said cousin before; me, because it was just funny.
"Really?" Emmett laughed. Esme scowled.
"He wasn't hurt, was he?"
Harry and Ron rolled their eyes. "Esme, if you knew the Dursleys, you wouldn't be caring either way."
"Yes, she would," the Cullens disagreed.
They turned to me, wondering whose side I was on.
"If they were bad enough, I'm sure she wouldn't care. But Esme is a very compassionate person. So, I dunno."
"They don't like magic," Harry told her.
Ron was going to say something, but I cut across him. "Tell them about when Hagrid came to get you, Harry."
"Okay, when I got my first letter, I tried to open it at the kitchen table. My cousin saw, and my uncle Vernon took it from me. He sent me and Dudley out, and he and Aunt Petunia flipped. They burned it, but the letters kept appearing everywhere- even in the eggs, once he boarded up enough places in the house. He went mad."
"I thought he was already mad?" Sirius asked, scowling at the mention of the Dursleys.
"He went madder, then. Anyway, one Sunday, about a hundred letters came through the fireplace. I tried to catch one, but my uncle took it away before I could read it."
"Why didn't you just pick one up off the floor?" Jasper asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world- which it kinda was.
"I was eleven! Plus, I didn't think of it. Anyway, we eventually wound up in a hut on a rock. At midnight, Hagrid busted down the door and told me that I was a wizard. Turns out my uncle and aunt lied to me all those years, saying my parents died in a car crash. Petunia hated my mum- they were sisters- and she went on a huge rant about how their parents were so proud that Mum was a witch. Hagrid told me the true story, and we went to Diagon Alley the next day."
"I already knew what I was, so it didn't come as a shock to me," Ron said. Ginny nodded in agreement.
"Professor McGonagall came to my house and explained everything to me. My parents and I were thrilled," Hermione threw in.
I smirked. "Remus actually gave me my letter."
Remus snickered. "You jumped up and down, squealing. I thought I was going to go deaf."
Edward chuckled, probably seeing the scene through Remus's eyes. "The image of Alice that day, I take it?"
Emmett gasped. "Not another Alice!" he cried, pretending to shield his muscular frame behind Esme. She rolled her eyes.
"Emmett, be nice."
"Yes, Mom."
Ginny and Ron snorted. Emmett's head flew up to face them. "What?" he demanded.
They shook their heads. "No wonder you got along so well with the twins."
"After Bella got her letter, she insisted on being taken straight to Hogwarts," Remus continued. I smiled as I remembered that day…
I was eating breakfast with Reneewhen the a blue light came from next to the sink. I perked up, because Remus's owl had arrived last night, telling us he would be coming today, and that he would be taking me to England. I thought he would just be taking me on my annual vacation. But no.
The glow faded and Remus stood there, looking a little more tired, and his robes were a bit shabbier than I remembered. But he still smiled as I raced toward him and hugged him tightly.
"Bella, happy birthday." He pulled a letter from his robes and handed it to me. My eyes widened when I read it.
Bella Swan
Kitchen
2215 Sunshine Ave.
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
I turned it over and saw the Hogwarts crest. A lion, badger, eagle, and serpent surrounding a large H.
"Remus," I breathed, "is this…"
"Open it," he encouraged.
I tore into it and pulled out the parchment.
Dear Ms. Swan,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Remus Lupin will pick you up from your house and take you to his house, where you will stay until September 1st if you wish to attend. Below is a list of equipment you will need for the coming year.
Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
I squealed and jumped around for a good five minutes, unable to believe it. I always thought I would have to go to a school here in America, and Remus had told me about the castle and Honeydukes (which I wouldn't be able to go to until 3rd year) and a lot of other things.
"Remus! I can't believe it! I really get to go to Hogwarts?" I asked after a bit. He nodded. "Well, let's go!"
"Whoa, Bella. First, you have to pack your stuff. Then we have to go to Diagon Alley and get your supplies. After that, we have to wait until September 1st," he laughed.
"Actually, that was the first time in ten years that I saw Harry," Remus said.
Harry's head shot up. "Really? Why didn't I see you?"
I shrugged, then shivered. "The crowd."
Harry groaned at the reminder. The others laughed, knowing Harry's and my aversion to fame. Thank goodness Harry was more recognizable than me!
When we finally got to the Leaky Cauldron three hours later, we had to pick our way through a crowd of people, all of whom were gathered around a giant of a man. I guessed this was the gamekeeper Hagrid Remus told me about. I looked through the crowd a bit and saw they were actually shaking hands with a boy who didn't look any older than me. He was extremely thin, wearing clothes that were too big for him and glasses held together by tape, and had messy black hair that looked like it never lied flat, no matter what you did to it.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Remus tugged on my hand and pulled me along, on the outskirts of the crowd. We made it out the back without being seen.
"What was that about?" I asked once the door swung shut.
"Harry Potter is getting his school supplies today, too," he answered. I raised an eyebrow- Remus had told me of how Harry and I survived the Killing Curse when we were babies, and somehow got rid of Voldemort at the same time- but was not able to say anymore because Remus pulled out his wand and tapped a brick. The wall shifted until it became a doorway.
My eyes were about to fall out of my head. "Wow."
Remus nodded. "Yeah, that was my first reaction too. Come on, we have to get to the bank first."
I followed at a slow walk, taking in every single shop I could see and making sure I didn't trip over anything.
"Then we reached the bank, got the money, and went school shopping!" I said, smiling. "Nothing strange happened, except when we got my wand. And Lily."
"Hello?" I called, walking into the shop. It felt like there was an unknown power in here. It was strange, but not in a bad way.
"Mr. Ollivander?" Remus called behind me.
A man with white hair and creepy eyes stepped out from the rows of boxes and came over to us.
"Ah, Mr. Lupin. How are you today?"
"Very well, Mr. Ollivander. Just here to get Bella her wand." Remus put his hand on my shoulder.
"Your wand still works well, though? Elm wood, with a wolf hair, nine inches."
"Yes, it still works wonderfully."
Mr. Ollivander walked to the back of the shop and I took the opportunity to whisper, "How does he remember that?"
Remus shrugged. "It's a gift."
Mr. Ollivander came back with a few boxes. He put two on the counter and took the third one out of its box, handing it to me. "Nine and three-quarters inches, birch wood and unicorn hair."
I looked at the wand, then waved it like I saw Remus do occasionally. A jet of light hit Mr. Ollivander's sleeve, which promptly caught fire. He extinguished it with a wave of his wand and grabbed the one I was holding from me. He handed me the second one. "Walnut and phoenix feather. Nine inches."
I continued flicking wands until I held one that Mr. Ollivander said was "Ash wood, with phoenix feather and dragon heartstring core- an extremely unusual combination" and warmth spread through my fingers.
"This is very strange," Mr. Ollivander whispered.
"What's strange?" Remus asked.
He looked up at both of us. "I remember every single wand I've ever sold. This wand is extremely strange, since it has both a phoenix feather and dragon heartstring core. The phoenix who gave the feather for your wand gave only two other feathers- one of which I sold almost fifty years ago. The dragon heartstring, on the other hand, has only one sister wand- usually, there are several brother wands. I've never seen anything like it before."
"So is it still a good wand for me to use?"
Mr. Ollivander looked appalled that I even thought of such a question. "Of course! The wand chose you. It's just that if you try to fight the owner of any of the other three wands, they will not work properly against each other."
I blushed and nodded, still confused. We paid for my wand and left the store.
"So who has the other wands?" Rosalie asked.
"Do you really expect me to tell you before I found out on my own?" I stifled a laugh as they all groaned. The only ones who knew were Sirius, Remus, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and me. Then again, Edward probably already picked it out of their brains. And Alice could have seen it.
"What happened when you got Lily?" Ginny asked, even though I already told her and Hermione this story.
Remus opened the door to Eeylopes Owl Emporium, ushering me inside.
I froze when I set foot inside. "Whoa!"
Standing in front of me was the giant-man from earlier. But he looked even bigger up close! His hair and beard were tangled, and his black eyes glittered like beetles. He smiled when he saw Remus behind me.
"Remus!" he boomed. "I haven' seen you in ages!"
"Sorry, Hagrid. I've been busy keeping an eye on this one." Remus patted my shoulder. I blushed as Hagrid turned his gaze to me.
"We won' have ter be puttin' up with any more o' yeh troublemakers, will we?" Hagrid asked, raising his bushy eyebrows at Remus.
He laughed, shaking his head. "No, Hagrid. Bella here is not a troublemaker. In fact, she's rather quite shy."
I blushed even deeper. "Remus!"
The two of them laughed. I shook my head.
"I bes' be off. I gotta take Harry back t' his aunt 'n uncle's house." Hagrid's eyes seemed to narrow when he mentioned them. Why, I didn't know. Remus looked sad, probably because he couldn't say hi to his old friend's son.
I noticed Hagrid had a bag in one hand, an owl cage in another. Inside was a beautiful snowy owl, its head resting under its wing.
"That owl's beautiful," I said. "Is it yours?"
"Nah, she's Harry's. His birthday present, actually."
"I'm sure he'll love her," Remus whispered. The owl glanced at us from over her wing for a second with beautiful amber eyes, then put it back under.
Hagrid seemed to glow with pride. "Yeh think?"
"Definitely," we assured him.
He smiled and left the shop. "See yeh in September, Bella!"
"Bye, Hagird."
Once the door swung shut, an auburn owl that didn't look older than seven months fluttered down from the rafters and landed on my shoulder. I started.
Remus laughed sadly. "Our owls did that when we were eleven," he said quietly.
"Who?" I asked.
He looked down at me; pain was evident in his eyes. "James, Sirius, Lily, and I. We walked in here at different times, but each owl flew over to us and refused to leave our shoulders until we bought them." He closed his eyes. "They were all from the same clutch. Sirius and I got the male owls; Lily and James got the girls."
"Really?" I asked, sorry that I brought it up. He nodded. "What were their names?"
"Lily named hers Arwen. James named his Black Rose. He shortened it to Rose occasionally. Sirius chose the name Orion, and mine was…"
"Romulus," I finished for him, remembering fondly the black barn owl who died a few years back.
I stroked the owl's beak. She had auburn feathers, and bright green eyes.
"I think I'll call you Lily."
"That's sweet," Ginny and Alice said.
"Sad, though," Rosalie added.
"So what happened after that?" Emmett asked, trying to distract the three of us who knew and loved the old owls from thinking about them too much.
"We just stayed in the Leaky Cauldron until it was time for Bella to go to school." Remus shrugged, then mock-glared at me. "Bella over there opened her textbooks about a total of once." Sirius, Harry, and Emmett gave me the thumbs-up behind his back. Hermione and Carlisle looked at me with disappointment.
I shrugged, blushing slightly. "So what? A couple of them were interesting, but several of them hurt my brain."
"But, you got good marks, I hope?" Esme asked sternly.
"Oh, of course I did. Just not in Potions," I told her, whispering the last part.
Sirius growled. "Of course not! He knew you're my niece, even before he overheard us in the Shack. And we hate each other."
"It's not just me and Harry," I told him, heading him off before he could get a nice long rant about slimy Slytherin Potions teachers taking school grudges out on people's children. "He hates every House except his own."
"Surely he's not that bad," Jasper said optimistically.
Everyone who knew the man turned to him with faces of disbelief, even though Hermione was sort of reluctant.
"He's the worst teacher in history."
"Actually, Binns and Trelawney have to be the worst teachers in history," Ron corrected Harry.
Harry thought it over, then nodded. "You have a point- okay, Snape is the meanest teacher in history."
"Let's put it this way- the first time we had his class, he asked Harry these ridiculous questions that didn't come up until at least the back of the book!" I shook my head.
"And when Harry and Malfoy get into a fight, he takes points off of Gryffindor and not Slytherin," Ginny threw in.
"That's terrible!" Esme exclaimed.
We all nodded seriously.
"Wait till you meet him in person," Ron muttered.
"But he's with the Order," Hermione objected half-heartedly.
"Leopards don't change their spots," Sirius reminded her.
"Enough about Snape! So what happened when you got on the train?" Ginny asked.
"Oh, well…"
An older student helped me up onto the train while Remus grabbed my trunk and lifted it inside for me.
"Bye, Remus. See you at Christmas!" I called over my shoulder as I carried Lily's cage. The Hufflepuff was nice enough to offer to take my trunk to a compartment.
"Thanks," I said as he lifted it onto the luggage racks. I put Lily's cage next to my trunk and unfastened it so she could get out when she wanted. She hooted gratefully.
"No problem. Was that your dad out there?" he asked.
I shook my head. "Uncle. My dad lives in America- he doesn't even know I'm a witch."
"Really? I would have thought-"
"My parents are divorced. They split shortly after we came to America."
We stood in awkward silence on his part, until I said, "You never told me your name."
He looked relieved that we could talk about something else entirely. "Cedric Diggory." He held out a hand. I shook it.
"I'm Bella Swan."
His eyes widened a bit and he chuckled nervously. "You realize you and Harry Potter are celebrities in our world, right?"
I sighed. "Yeah, Uncle Remus told me, but really, what's there to be famous for? So we got rid of some creep who was killing everyone off and we can't even remember it. It's not that great, being famous for something you can't remember doing, you know?"
He nodded. "At least you were told about this ahead of time. I wonder what Harry thinks of all this."
The compartment door slid open. Cedric turned his head toward the newcomer.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize anybody else was in here," a young boy muttered. I caught a glimpse of messy black hair.
"Oh, no. That's all right. I was just leaving." Cedric helped him put his trunk next to mine. He smiled slightly and waved at me. "Nice to meet you, Bella. Hope I'll see you around."
"Bye, Cedric. I hope so, too."
I got a good look at the boy now. He was the same boy I saw in the Leaky Cauldron.
"Hello, Harry."
He looked slightly startled that I knew his name, then he flattened his bangs over his scar.
"Hello," he sighed, sitting down by the window in a heap. "I suppose you want to stare at my forehead, too."
I looked at him sympathetically and took the seat across from him. "Actually, I was wondering if you just hated the attention as much as I do. I may not have a scar on my forehead, but I still hate the fact that everyone seems to know me as soon as I say my name."
It was quiet for a few minutes, until someone opened the door again. It was a tall redhead with freckles, who looked curiously inside.
"Can I sit with you two? Everywhere else is full."
Harry nodded. "Sure."
The boy sat down next to him and two identical boys with hair as red as his peeked in.
"Hey Ron, we're going to find Lee Jordan- he's got a tarantula."
The boy named Ron nodded distractedly; I didn't think he even heard.
The twins shrugged. "Nice seeing you again, Harry." They left.
Ron was quiet for a while, until the train started moving, then asked, "Are you really Harry Potter?"
Harry nodded warily.
"I thought it might be another one of Fred and George's tricks."He turned to me. "I'm Ron Weasley."
I smiled slightly. Remus had told me about the "blood traitor" family. "I'm Bella Swan."
His eyes widened. "Really?"
"Yeah."
"Do you guys really have…" he trailed off, looking away.
Harry pulled his hair back and I lifted up the hem of my shirt so the two of them could see the mark on my hip.
We became friends with Ron pretty fast, and Harry learned how I was famous. Harry and I even bought us all candy when the trolley came by- Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, pumpkin pasties, and a lot of other stuff.
The door slid open and a boy with sleek platinum blond hair came in, followed by two bulky bodyguards- there was no other word for them.
"I heard Harry Potter and Isabella Swan were in this compartment," the blonde drawled. He looked almost exactly like how Remus described a Malfoy. "You two, I take it?"
Harry seemed to instantly dislike the boy, which was good, after hearing so many bad stories about the boy's family.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" I asked.
He looked pleased. "So you know of my family?"
"Well, all I know is what my uncle told me, but I know that your family is pureblood, and rich, and infamous. My uncle never liked your father, and neither did Harry's dad."
Harry's eyes widened. "Your uncle knew my father?"
I nodded with a smile. It was kind of sad to see his eyes light up at the idea of learning something about his parents. They should have been alive to tell him stories and to watch him get on the train and do a lot of stuff. But thanks to Voldemort, none of that was possible.
The boy flushed, but retorted, "Potter, you don't want to be hanging with the wrong sort." He turned to Harry and held out his hand.
"Harry looked at it for a minute before replying, "I think I can choose the wrong sort for myself, thank you."
He glared at all of us before leaving. "Crabbe, Goyle, come on." The bodyguards left.
"Thank God he's gone," Ron said, who was quiet until that moment.
"Tell me about it."
The door opened again and a bushy haired girl asked bossily, "Have any of you seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one."
We shook our heads. She recognized Harry pretty quickly.
"You're Harry Potter!" Then she turned toward me. "And you're Bella Swan, right?"
We both nodded. She walked in and sat down next to me. "I've read all about you two, of course. You're in…" she listed a few books that we were mentioned in, and a couple more in which there were whole chapters dedicated to us. Then she went on to explain that she was really looking forward to the classes and wondering which House she'd be in and all the books she read before today. I was amazed. I was pretty sure even Remus didn't read this much before his first year!
"I'm Hermione Granger," she finished. She turned to Ron, who was dumbfounded. "And you are?"
Once he finally got his voice back, he stuttered, "Ron Weasley."
"Pleased to meet you." She rose. "You three had better get changed. I expect we'll be arriving shortly."
Ron and Harry stared after her as she left.
"She's mental." Ron was the first to speak. "Who reads that many books?"
I glared at him. "Just because you don't like to read, Ron, doesn't mean other people are the same. Now, if you two will excuse me." I stood and grabbed my robes. The owls had been really quiet until then, so it was a surprise to all of us when Lily screeched indignantly and gave Ron an owl's version of the evil eye. I smirked and left the boys to get changed.
When we were done, Esme was looking at Ron disappointedly. Remus and Hermione were just staring at him, like an investigator would to break a suspect. Ginny slapped him on the head.
"What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his head. She glared at him. "Oh, come on! It was six years ago!"
"We can hold grudges too, Ron," I said slowly. Rosalie smirked. I knew vampires could hold grudges longer than anyone.
"And you were the reason that we wound up stuck in the bathroom that Halloween," Hermione added.
"You notice how everything bad happens to you guys on that particular day?" Ginny asked.
"It's cursed," Sirius, Ron, Harry and I said.
"Wouldn't doubt it," Remus muttered.
"So what happened after?" Carlisle asked.
"I became friends with Hermione."
"At least one of you was nice that day," Esme muttered. Harry and Ron protested instantly.
"You know it's true," I sang. They shifted their eyes to me. Edward chuckled.
"You've been awfully quiet," Sirius noted.
"Nothing bad has happened yet." He kissed the top of my head. I leaned into his chest.
Harry and Ron glared at me. I smiled sweetly back at them.
"Not my fault I was her only friend until Halloween."
"After we got off the train and went up to the school in the boats- every other year goes by carriage, but we were first years- we met Professor McGonagall," Hermione continued the story, hoping to keep everybody's mind on track.
"Hey, Hermione," I said as we were waiting for Professor McGonagall to speak. Harry and Ron were in front of us.
She looked up and smiled a little. "Hello, Bella." She looked up at the elder witch, who began to speak.
"We will go through these doors"- she pointed to the big double doors behind her- "and you will be Sorted into your Houses. There are four Houses; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. While you're here, your House is going to be like your family. Your accomplishments will earn you points, while any rule-breaking"- here she looked at me, Ron, and Harry- "will lose you points. Now, wait here while I get things ready." She walked off.
"I wonder how we'll be Sorted," I heard Harry say. I was wondering about that, too, but Remus had smiled mysteriously when I asked him, so it shouldn't be anything too bad.
Hermione started muttering spells under her breath.
I looked at her. "You don't need to do that," I whispered.
"How do you know?"
I shrugged. "My uncle is a Hogwarts graduate, but he wasn't real concerned when he told me some stories about his first days here."
Harry faced me. "That reminds me, Bella, you said your uncle knew my dad."
I nodded. "Yeah. He tells me lots of stories- I can write to him and see if he'll send you one," I offered.
His eyes sparkled and he nodded a few times before Professor McGonagall came back out.
"Follow me, please."
The doors swung open, and we walked under the enchanted ceiling and past the House tables where all the other students sat. I saw Cedric at the Hufflepuff table. He gave me a thumbs-up, and I smiled back and waved a little.
"That's it?" Hermione asked. I looked toward the front to see what she was looking at.
A dusty old hat sat on a stool. It opened its mouth and mine fell open. The hat sang!
All it really did was tell us about the four Houses and how the Founders chose the students they would teach. But it was weird watching a hat sing.
Professor McGonagall stood next to the stool with a list.
"So all we have to do is try on the hat?" Harry asked Ron, relieved.
I laughed mentally. Good joke, Remus.
"Fred was going on about wrestling a troll," Ron scoffed. He was so gullible.
Professor McGonagall started calling out names and the students came up to put the Hat on, one by one. Some took longer than others- it took five minutes for the Hat to decide where to place Hermione.
I heard Ron mutter, "Whatever House she's in, I hope I'm not in it."
Harry nodded feverishly. I smacked their shoulders lightly, but still hard enough to convey the message. They fell silent. But I still heard Ron groan when the Hat hollered, "GRYFFINDOR!"
On the other hand, the Hat barely brushed Draco Malfoy's head before it shouted, "SLYTHERIN!" With a smirk, the boy strode over to the cheering Slytherins.
I shivered. I really didn't want to be in that House; most of them wound up joining Voldemort when he was still around. But so did people from other Houses.
"Harry Potter," Professor McGonagall finally called. The older students muttered amongst themselves, and Harry walked shakily to the stool. I smiled encouragingly before the Hat covered his head. The Hall was silent.
Harry clutched the stool nervously a few times. It seemed like he was trying to convince the Hat to put him in a different House than the one it considered. With a chill, I realized that the Hat was considering putting him in Slytherin.
Finally, the Hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" and Harry handed the Hat back to Professor McGonagall, grinning.
The uproar was instantaneous. Everyone at the Gryffindor table was cheering and those nearest to where he sat reached out to shake his hand.
The Weasley twins were shouting, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"
Once the noise died down, some more students were Sorted, and then it was my turn. As my name was called, there was more muttering. I drew in a shaky breath and sat down on the stool. The Hat fell over my eyes, obscuring my view.
"Hello," the Hat said in my ear.
"Uh, hi," I thought back.
"This is strange. Dear, could you say something very quietly?"
"Why?" I whispered.
"I can't seem to get a read on you. This is very strange-never have I seen this before." The Hat pondered over this, then asked, "Could you tell me a little bit about yourself?"
"Well, I like reading, but fiction, not my school books. I would do anything to protect my friends and family. Um, I have one uncle-he's not really my uncle, but I see him as one-Remus Lupin. My real uncle, Sirius Black-"
"Ah, yes. I remember him. Threatened to run himself through with a sword if he was put with the rest of the Blacks. He and Remus Lupin, as well as their friends James Potter and Peter Pettigrew, became Gryffindors and Remus, James, and Sirius brought some much needed prankster mayhem to the school. Much like the Weasley twins. Now, I'll leave you with a word of warning- things are not always as they appear. GRYFINDOR!"
This last word was shouted out for the whole school to hear.
The Hat was removed, and the Gryffindor table was cheering again. I blushed and found a seat next to Hermione, across from Harry.
"Between the two of you, it took a good fifteen minutes to Sort you!" Hermione said. "What did it say?"
"It was strange. It told me that 'things are not always as they appear'- its words, not mine," I said. Harry stayed silent.
Ron joined the Gryffindors shortly after, and soon the stool and Hart were carried out of the Hall. The headmaster stood up to speak.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! Before we get started, I wanted to introduce you to Professor Quirrel, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." A funny guy in a purple turban stood up.
Harry rubbed his forehead and whispered, "Ouch" as my scar, which was cold on normal days, froze to the point of pain briefly on my hip. Images flashed before my eyes-something purple falling to the ground, a blood red stone, a giant chess set, a three-headed dog, flying keys, bottles of liquid, some weird plant thing, a troll, and a mirror. It was very strange.
"Bella?" Hermione shook my shoulder. "You okay?"
I blinked and looked at her. "Yeah, why?"
"You zoned out there for a minute."
Food appeared in front of us, and we began to pile some on our plates. "What did Professor Dumbledore have to say?"
"Warned us away from the Forbidden Forest, told us there's a list of stuff that's banned on Filch's door- he's the caretaker," she added after seeing my confused look, "and the third floor corridor is off limits unless you want to die."
I shivered; strange and creepy.
Dumbledore dismissed us soon after the desserts disappeared, and we followed Percy Weasley, a pompous fifth year prefect, to our Common Room. Hermione and I climbed up the stairs to the girl's dormitories and found our stuff. We fell asleep soon after.
"You think the Hat was telling you about Sirius being framed?" Ron asked, breaking the silence in the room. Most of the Cullens looked curious, probably wondering why I hadn't mentioned that before.
I shrugged. "Ron, the Hat could have been hinting at many things. But probably." Or it was warning me that Quirrel was carrying Voldemort around in the back of his head. Maybe both.
"Did the Sorting Hat really think about putting you in Slytherin?" Rosalie asked. Harry winced.
"Really? That's stupid; anyone who knows you knows you belong in Gryffindor," Sirius snorted.
A smile tugged at the corner of my lips. "Did you really threaten to run yourself through with a sword if you were in that House?"
He looked at me directly, not hesitating in his answer. "Yes."
"And you would have done it?" Esme gasped.
"Three words: Pureblood. Mania. Family." Sirius shivered.
"Well, take comfort in the fact that your parents are dead," Remus said bracingly.
"Whatever happened to the painting of your mother, Sirius?" Ginny asked.
I smiled brightly. "I burned it."
Everyone turned to me. Harry and Ron looked immensely relieved; Sirius looked ready to cheer at any moment; Hermione, Ginny, and Remus laughed. The Cullens looked confused as to why I would do such a thing.
"Why would you do that, Bella?" Alice asked, aghast.
"She yelled at us; it was completely frustrating, and a pain on the ears," Remus said.
"Mudbloods! Filth! Destroying my father's house," I shrieked in a mocking imitation of Mrs. Black. Sirius paled. "Never again," he told me. I nodded.
"Dinner for the humans," Alice said, right before Mrs. Weasley called up the stairs.
"So, where were we?" Ron asked as soon as all of us got settled back in Percy's old room. He lounged on one bed with Hermione, and Harry and Ginny took the other one. Edward sat against the wall, and I sat in his lap.
Remus waved his wand, and the beds and chairs turned into big fluffy cushions. The four occupying the beds gasped in shock and landed on the cushions. More appeared on the floor, enough for all of us to lay down comfortably.
"Ha!" I laughed. "Okay, nothing much happened the first week, except it took the boys a whole five days to get to the Great Hall without getting lost." I pulled a tragic face.
"That's just sad. We were able to get there without getting lost after the third day," Sirius sighed. "Oh, well. I guess not all of us have my amazing memory."
Hermione and I glanced at each other, then laughed. "Second day, Sirius."
Sirius gaped.
"But I'm sure my map helped," Remus said with raised brows.
"Oh, yes. We never would have accomplished it without your fantastic mapping skills." Hermione stood up and mock-bowed.
"But he's not much of an artist," Edward said thoughtfully. Remus blushed.
"Hush. Not all of us can be good at everything," I told him. "Anyway, the classes were great- for the most part. Binns, the only ghost teacher, is so boring he could put a vampire to sleep."
"Impossible," the Cullens said.
"Well, if you could fall asleep, you would in his class. I swear, the only one able to resist his dullness is Hermione," Ron groaned.
"Well, if you had only tried harder-" Hermione began.
"Here we go again," Harry breathed.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to finish the recap of your first year sometime this century," Ginny said with pointedly, raising her eyebrows.
"Okay, so the bad part of the week was Potions," Harry continued.
The dungeon door slammed shut. Everyone fell silent. Professor Snape swept through the room and immediately began talking. Nobody seemed to breathe.
"There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class," he began. "By the end of the year you will be able to brew fame, bottle, glory, and even put a stopper on death-if you're not the same bunch of dunderheads I usually have to teach."
Hermione was sitting nest to me at the table across from Harry and Ron. She was on the edge of her seat, looking nervous.
"Hermione, you'll do fine. I've heard that he's mean to just about anyone," I reassured her under my breath.
Professor Snape started to take roll. When he reached Harry's name, his lips curled maliciously.
"Mr. Potter. Our new celebrity," he said slowly. He continued down the roll until he read out my name. I blushed slightly.
"Miss Swan. Well, well. Two celebrities in the same year-the same class, even!" He strode over to my desk. "Tell me, Miss Swan, are you going to be like your incompetent uncle who got himself locked up in Azkaban? He, too, strutted about the school as if he owned it. In fact, he never seemed to open a textbook, but somehow, he was able to pass first year," he said low enough for only Hermione and I to hear. I clenched my hands into fists but refused to rise to the bait.
"Potter, where would I find a beozar?" he snapped.
I looked over and saw Harry looking baffled. "I don't know, sir."
"Swan, what's the answer?" He glared at me.
"In the stomach of a goat, sir." I had to clench my teeth together to hold onto my temper. He smiled victoriously, and I realized that he knew what I was doing.
He fired off questions one after the other between the two of us, until Harry told him that maybe he should ask Hermione, since she seemed to know the answers. I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
"Put your hand down, foolish girl," he snarled at Hermione. "And a point from Gryffindor for your cheek, Potter."
Hermione dropped her hand, tears brightening her eyes.
"Hermione, you're not foolish," I whispered as we went to get our Potions ingredients. "You're one of the smartest witches I know."
"You can't know that many witches," she sniffed.
"Well, no," I allowed, "but you're smarter than my uncle, and I think he's read the entire Hogwarts library five times over."
She blinked rapidly to dispel the tears. "Really?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Would you like me to write to him and double check?"
She hurriedly said, "Oh, no, that's okay. I'll take your word for it."
"And after class, he docked another point because apparently, I purposefully allowed Neville to blow up his potion," Harry said, rolling his eyes.
"Actually, I think the cauldron melted," Hermione said thoughtfully.
"Then the guys went to Hagrid's for tea after classes, and they found out Gringotts had been broken into," I continued. "Which, in turn, got the two of us curious." I pointed to Harry and myself.
"Of course," Edward breathed.
"Flying practice was the thing that distracted us," Harry said after a minute.
I laughed. "Oh, yeah. Do you remember everyone's faces?"
Sirius and Emmett leaned forward eagerly. "What'd you guys do?"
"Well, we were at our first flying practice. Neville accidentally took off too soon, and sprained his wrist. Madam Hooch, the flying instructor, took him to the Hospital Wing and told us to stay off the brooms."
Carlisle winced.
"Yeah. Madam Pomfrey mended it pretty quick, though. Malfoy found his Remembrall- what's the point of those, anyway? They don't tell you what you've forgotten, only that you've forgotten something." Hermione shook her head. "After Malfoy got the Remembrall…"
"Give it here, Malfoy," Harry said quietly. I glared at the smug boy.
"No. I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find." Malfoy climbed on his broom and pushed off from the ground. "How 'bout on the roof?"
Harry swung his leg over the broom in his hands. Hermione touched his sleeve.
"Harry, what are you doing? You heard what Madam Hooch said. Besides, you don't know how to fly!"
Harry ignored her and kicked up off the ground.
"Hermione, if he's anything like his dad, Harry will be fine." I took off after Harry before she could stop me.
"Give it here, Malfoy, or I'll knock you off your broom!" Harry cried as I flew closer. Malfoy tossed the Remembrall. Harry sped toward the ground and caught the ball in his hands. He pulled up out of the dive close to the ground. I saw Crabbe swing his broom as Harry flew near the other students.
"Harry, look out!" I cried. Harry zoomed straight up and over my head, but he dropped the sphere. Reflexively, I snatched it from the air as Malfoy closed in and dropped it over Ron's head. He caught it neatly in the palm of his hand.
Malfoy landed quickly.
"Harry Potter! Isabella Swan!" somebody cried from behind us. I landed softly next to Harry as Professor McGonagall stormed toward us.
"Never have I seen something like that. You could have broken your neck!" She rounded on me. "You could have crashed into Mr. Malfoy! Or dropped that on someone's head!" She gestured to the Remembrall in Ron's hands. "Follow me." She took the sphere from Ron, ignoring the students' protests. We followed her nervously.
"You don't think we're going to get expelled, do you?" Harry asked me nervously.
I shook my head. "Doubtful. Dumbledore makes the final call on decisions like that."
We followed Professor McGonagall to Professor Quirrell's classroom.
"Wait here."
We stayed still as statues while she asked if she could borrow someone or something named Wood.
"It's gotta be a student. Why else would she ask permission from another teacher if they weren't in his class?" I said softly, to reassure myself.
Harry nodded. "A student. Yeah."
Sure enough, a fifth year stepped out of the classroom moments later. The four of us went into an empty classroom nearby. Professor McGonagall made sure the door was shut before telling the fifth year, "Swan, Potter, this is Wood. Wood, I've found you a Seeker and Chaser!"
Oliver Wood's eyes widened. I understood everything now. He was Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They needed a Seeker and a Chaser. That could be us!
"Are you sure?" he asked hoarsely.
Professor McGonagall held up the Remembrall. "Potter caught this coming out of a fifty foot dive. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it. And he flew above Miss Swan and dropped it. She caught it before another student could, and handed it over to a Gryffindor student- the youngest Mr. Weasley."
Harry sagged in relief against me. I stood stiffly, listening to the conversation flowing around me.
By the end of it, the Gryffindor Quidditch team had two new members. And Harry and I became the youngest Quidditch players in a century.
Sirius grinned. "I knew you two were good, but making the team in first year? James and I didn't get on the team until second!"
"Don't forget, there was a seventh year Chaser and Beater on the team in first year, too," Remus said, hiding a laugh behind his hand. Sirius, the Weasleys, Harry and I could talk about Quidditch for hours. As soon as I found out, I had written him with every detail.
"Soon after we made the team, Bella and I each got our own brooms- Nimbus 2000s. Malfoy saw them and, since I embarrassed him, challenged me to a duel," Harry picked up. "Midnight, in the trophy room."
Sirius and Remus groaned. "He didn't show, did he?"
Harry and Ron shook their heads.
"Hermione!" I hissed as I saw the door open and my friend slipped out. I followed her.
She sat in the chair by the fireplace and watched the boys' dormitories staircase.
"Hermione, if they want to get in trouble, let them. It's none of our business what they do." I was lying- I was worried about what trouble they could get into, but it truthfully was none of my business.
"I don't want all those points taken from us because they are complete idiots!" A door opened, and Harry and Ron came downstairs.
I sank into the chair Hermione vacated and ignored the three of them as they argued quietly, and then the portrait hole opened and closed. My eyes drifted shut and I dreamt that Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Ron waited in the trophy room until somebody spoke. The four of them fled, and eventually ran into Peeves. Ron swiped at him; Peeves shouted, "Students out of bed! Students out of bed down the Charms corridor!"
They bolted and tried to open a locked door. Dread ran through me; they shouldn't go through it. Hermione took Harry's wand and tapped the lock, muttering, "Alohamora."
They slipped in the room and listened while Peeves and Filch argued.
"He's gone," Harry said finally. Neville tugged frantically at Harry's robes. "What, Neville?"
They all turned and saw a three headed dog, snarling. They screamed and rushed out of the room, closing and locking it behind them. They ran all the way back to Gryffindor tower.
I sat up immediately as I heard Ron gasping for breath in the common room. Somehow, I knew that what I dreamed really happened.
"You guys! Are you all right?" I helped Neville sit down on the couch while he tried to stop quivering in fear.
"We just ran into a three-headed dog," Harry said, confirming the thought that my dream really had happened.
"What are they thinking, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" Ron asked.
"Didn't you see what it was standing on?"
"I was a bit preoccupied with its three heads!" Ron panted.
"It was standing on a trapdoor; it's guarding something." Hermione straightened. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed-or worse, expelled."
She walked up the girls' stairs in a huff.
Ron looked at us. "She needs to sort out her priorities."
"A three-headed dog?" Esme exclaimed.
"And you didn't tell me?" Remus asked.
"Not really- you'd have freaked, and there was no reason to. I wasn't even there, and they got out in one piece."
"Bella, didn't you say earlier that your scar showed you a three-headed dog?" Carlisle asked curiously.
I nodded. "Yes, I did."
"So your scar showed you things that would happen?"
I shrugged. "Pretty much. But we'll get to that. A couple of days later, we met up with Wood for our first Quidditch practice. Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell helped by tossing a Quaffle in a circle and seeing how many times I dropped it. I only dropped three out of twenty. Wood tossed Harry golf balls, one right after the other. He didn't miss a single one." I laughed.
"Wood was so excited. He honestly believed we would win the Quidditch cup that year," Harry sighed.
"After that, nothing exciting happened-until Halloween."
"Oh, great. The dreaded holiday," Sirius groaned.
We were trying to levitate feathers in Charms. I was partnered with Neville, Harry with Seamus Finnigan, and Hermione and Ron were paired together. A disaster waiting to happen.
"Wingardium Leviosa," I said, pointing to the feather with my wand.
I was doing something wrong, since the feather wasn't floating, but what?
Neville was saying the incantation correctly, but he wasn't using the correct movements. I watched Hermione and Ron a couple of tables away from us.
"Ron, you're doing it wrong. It's Leviosa, not Leviosar."
"You do it then, if you're so clever." Ron crossed his arms.
Hermione pointed her wand at the feather and said, with a swish and flick of her wand, "Wingardium Leviosa."
The feather levitated a few feet off the table. Professor Flitwick was ecstatic. Ron scowled and didn't speak for the rest of the lesson.
On the way to the next class, I tried to catch up with the others. I was a few people away from Hermione, who was right behind Harry, Ron, and Seamus.
"'It's Leviosa, not Leviosar,'" Ron said in a high voice, mimicking Hermione's words from earlier. "She's a nightmare, honestly! No wonder she hasn't got any friends."
I watched in despair as Hermione pushed past Ron purposefully, letting the three of them know that she heard them.
"I think she heard you," Harry said.
"No, really?" I spat sarcastically, catching up with them. Before I left Charms, Professor Flitwick had cast an anti-tripping spell on me. "Now why would you think that? And you!" I turned on Ron. "You have no right saying those sort of things. For your information, she does have a friend."
"Oh, yeah? Who?" Ron retorted.
I looked into his blue eyes, and saw the slight fear in them. I felt slightly vindictive; he should be scared.
"Me."
I turned on my heel and raced to the dormitory to put my books away so I could go search for Hermione.
"Ronald Weasley," Ginny hissed softly. "I knew you were tactless, but to purposefully say something like that!" She swiped at him, but Harry caught her wrist.
"Yeah, I was stupid, but hey! Bella chewed me out six years ago. Her glare is scary," Ron added softly.
"Good!" almost everyone said. I could still see Rosalie glaring at the back of his head; if looks could kill, he'd be burnt to a crisp.
"You know, the only reason I was willing to forgive you was because you were nice after that," I said. Ron took a pillow and threw it in my direction. It landed on my lap. "Thanks, Ron!"
It was dinnertime. I was sitting in a stall in the girls' bathroom with Hermione.
"Hermione, he's just jealous. You're the smartest girl in our year; a lot of people are jealous."
"Did he have to say that?" she cried. My heart broke to see my friend so sad. "I know I don't have any friends!"
"Hey, I don't want to hear you saying anything like that again! He's being an idiot. You're not stupid, and you have friends."
Hermione sniffled. "Who?"
"Well, would someone who wasn't your friend spend the last few hours in the bathroom, trying to convince you to come out?"
She blinked back tears. "You really think I'm your friend?"
"No, Hermione, I think you're Professor McGonagall. Of course I'm your friend!" I grinned maliciously. "And you know what I'm gonna do as soon as we get out of here? I'm gonna hunt down Ron and make him regret the day he made you cry!"
"Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie. Kissed the girls and made them cry. When the boys came out to play, Georgie Porgie ran away," Hermione recited the Mother Goose nursery rhyme off the top of her head.
"Let's change that, shall we? Ronald Weasley eats all the pie, hurt my friend's feelings and made her cry. When Bella Swan faced him that day, Ronald Weasley ran away."
She hiccupped.
"Let's get out of here, shall we? I don't know about you, but I'm hungry."
Hermione smiled softly. "Let's do-what's that smell?"
I unlocked the stall door and nearly gagged. It smelled like sweaty gym clothes and sewage. My eyes widened. There, looking down at me, was a troll.
"Holy crap!" I gasped, then closed and locked the door again.
"What?" Hermione asked anxiously.
"Troll."
"Troll? How'd a troll get in here?"
"Someone must have let it in. When I open the door, run for the door and go get a teacher. I'll hold it off, then I'll be right behind you."
"But what if you get hurt?"
"We'll both be hurt if we stay here much longer!"
The troll swung its club and smashed the top half of the stalls. Hermione screamed as we ducked.
"Hermione, go!" I crawled out from under the debris and made sure the troll came after me. Hermione rattled the door.
"It's locked!" she screeched. The door flew open.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" I cried, sending debris flying toward the troll as it turned toward Hermione. It swung its club at me. I ducked under the sinks, but I dropped my wand. It swung again, and Harry dropped down on its head. His wand flew up its nostril, and it turned its attention to the pest on its head. It grabbed Harry's ankle and swung him around. He dangled from the troll's hand. I ran around it to find Hermione. She was standing by the door, next to Ron. I glared at him; he didn't see it.
"Do something!" Harry cried as the troll tried to hit him; Harry kept lifting his head up, so the club would miss him my inches.
"What?" Ron cried. He was the only one who had a wand left.
"Anything!"
"Wingardium Leviosa!" I gasped.
"Swish and flick," Hermione said as Ron pointed his wand at the club.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" he cried, following Hermione's directions. The club slipped from the troll's head and it looked up stupidly. The club whacked it on the head after Ron dropped his wand. It swayed, then fell. Harry flew out of its hand and landed near us.
"Harry, are you okay?" I asked, helping him up.
"Yeah."
"Is it…dead?" Hermione asked.
"Don't think so, just knocked out," Harry said. He and I moved cautiously around it so we could get our wands back. Harry grimaced. "Troll bogies." He wiped his wand on the troll's pants.
Footsteps raced toward the bathroom. Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell rushed inside, then froze halfway through the door.
"Explain yourselves, all of you!" Professor McGonagall demanded.
The boys stuttered. I stayed quiet.
"It's my fault, Professor McGonagall."
We turned to face Hermione, who was looking ashamed.
"Miss Granger?" Professor McGonagall asked faintly.
"I went looking for the troll. I read about them and thought I could handle it. But I was wrong. If Harry, Ron, and Bella hadn't found me, I'd probably be dead."
Harry and Ron were looking at each other, amazed. I closed my eyes, wondering why my friend was taking the blame for Ron's mistakes.
"That was an extremely foolish thing to do. Five points will be taken from Gryffindor for your stupidity. As for you three," she continued, gesturing to Harry, Ron and I, "I hope you realize how fortunate you are. Not many first years could take on a full grown troll and live to tell the tale! Fifteen points will be awarded to Gryffindor."
Harry and Ron looked relieved.
"They locked you in there?" Edward growled. His hands flexed, like he wanted to place them around Harry's and Ron's necks.
"We never said that!" Ron protested.
"Hermione and Harry thought it!"
Ron glared at Harry, but it was more fearful than scary.
Emmett and Jasper growled. Remus's eyes were wide. Sirius was getting his breathing under control.
"Guys, we got out fine. We became friends after that."
"You became friends after fighting a troll?" Esme asked incredulously.
"Well, more like Hermione lied to save our a-"
"And we got nicer to each other after that," I said, cutting Ron off.
"You weren't put in danger because of these fools after that?" Rosalie asked.
"We're not fools!" Harry protested.
"Harry, shut up if you value your limbs," she replied sweetly.
"Actually, it's not the boys' fault," Hermione said. "Someone let the troll in as a distraction."
"They went after whatever the dog was guarding," Jasper guessed.
Harry looked at him, open mouthed.
"Soldier in the Confederate Army during the Civil War," Emmett explained.
"The what?" Harry, Ron and Ginny asked.
I rolled my eyes. "I'm getting you boys history books for Christmas."
Yep! It's up. And it's almost Christmas. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa, happy whatever you celebrate. :)
ASHLEY