This is the beginning of Darcy's second year at Hogwarts! I am very excited to start this new section because a lot more happens in Chamber of Secrets than in Sorcerer's Stone concerning other students.

Chapter Fourteen: Year Two

Surprises and Panic Attacks

The day that we returned to Hogwarts was a very insane and chaotic day. Mrs. Weasley was in a great fit getting Ginny ready and making sure she had all of her things for her first year. Percy was quite calm, except he kept annoying everyone by saying he was a prefect.

Everyone in the house was on a continuous cycle of running up and down the stairs to fetch something or snap something up they hadn't remembered before. It took quite a long time and by the time all of our things were loaded into an enchanted car, we were running slightly behind.

"Wait! I've left my journal behind!" Ginny cried as we rumbled down the gravel road. We made a quick U-turn and shot back towards the house. When we finally hit the road, we were running late.

"Molly, I really think-"

"No!"

"But I could use the invisibility booster!" Mr. Weasley said.

"We're using this car to fly! It's too dangerous!"

Mr. Weasley mumbled something under his breath and we laughed in the back seat. I watched out the window at the Muggles going about their business. I felt kind of bad for them. They had no idea of the magic that existed.

Seamus nudged me with his finger. "Are you excited to see Dean again?"

"Of course I am! He's my friend." Seamus laughed and shook his head.

"If only you knew..."

"If only I knew what?!" I said.

He shook his head, "It's not my news to tell."

"If you're talking about the fact that Dean has a crush on me, I already knew that."

"What!? Dean has a crush on you?" Seamus cried. I raised my eye brows. "He never told me that. He's going to get a stern talking to later."

"What were you talking about?" I asked.

Seamus blushed, "I was going to say that you won't want to be his friend anymore once you find out that he's now ahead of you in potions."

I cinkled my eyes, "Whyd yuo think that'd upset me?"

"BEcause you love potions! You love being the best in the class too!"

"I don't care about that." I said, "You need to learn about what bugs me, Seamus."

He smirked, "Shut up. You're never getting a boyfriend."

George and Fred were watching us in amusement. "Say goodbye to getting boyfriend ever, Blackbird." Fred said. "Seamus is going to be a wild man."

I rolled my eyes, "Seamus can't control me."

"Yes I can! And if I don't want you to get a boyfriend, you're not going to."

I shut him up by punching him in the gut and he groaned in pain. "Jeez, Darcy, where'd you learn to throw a punch like that?"

"Rory taught me." I said, smirking.

"Brilliant!" George said in between laughs. He and Fred were rolling in their seats. I made a face at them and continued looking out the window.

We ran with all our might to platform 9 3/4. We only had five minutes to catch the train when we arrived. "This familiar, Seamus?" I asked my brother. He sent me a glare in remembrance of his "heart attack" last year.

"Hurry up, children, hurry up. Percy you go first." Percy went through the barrier, the Ginny, the Mrs. and Mr. Weasley. I followed after George and Seamus came after me, followed by Fred. We had to sprint to the car with our cages and trunks. We shoved them in and tumbled onto the train just as it left the station.

"Whew! That was a close one!" Fred said. "We haven't been that close to being late since our first year."

George laughed, "I remember that. Bill was furious at us. He said it set a bad example since he was Head Boy and all..."

Ginny was looking around nervously. "Where am I supposed to sit."

"You can sit with Seamus and I. You can meet our friends."

George smiled at me gratefully and I nodded my head to Ginny to follow us. It took a few minutes before Seamus and I found Dean, Neville, and Fay. I squealed when I saw her and hugged Fay tightly.

"It's so good to see you again, Darcy!" She said.

"How was Asia?" I asked, sitting next to her.

She grinned and was about to tell me when she saw Ginny standing there awkwardly. "Hello. What's your name?"

"I'm Ginny, Ginny Weasley."

"Is it your first year here?" Fay asked. Ginny nodded. "You wouldn't happen to be related to Fred, George, and Ron Weasley would you?"

Ginny blushed, "Those are my brothers."

Fay sucked in a sharp breath, "I'm so sorry."

Ginny giggled and sat down next to Dean. "It's alright. They can be annoying sometimes...okay, all the time, but they're nice to me."

"I wish I had a brother or sister." Neville said. Dean patted his shoulder.

"I'm an only child too, Nev." Dean told him.

"Seamus and I only have each other." I said.

Neville gave us an annoyed look, "Yeah but you guys are practically attached at the hip."

Seamus and I laughed and nudged each other affectionately. We really were attached at the hip sometimes.

After the Sorting Hat sang his song, Seamus and I were looking out for Elene, who was standing towards the front of the group of first years. Several names were called before we heard, "O'Neill, Elene". She was shaking as she wandered up to the sorting hat and stool. I could see Erik, Lacy and Damian standing up from their places at their house tables. They were both hoping that their sister would be in their own house.

She sat down and the sorting hat began talking to her. I couldn't really understand what it was saying, but suddenly, Elene got a terrified look on her face. I knew it had made its decision. "SLYTHERIN!" The Slytherin table cheered loudly while Seamus and I gasped from surprise. Elene was probably the sweetest girl we knew, there was no way she was supposed to be in Slytherin. From what I could see, Lacy and Damian looked equally as upset.

The sorting continued and we watched in disinterest until "Weasley, Ginny" was called up to the sorting hat. Fred, George and Percy all rose slightly and looked anxiously at their little sister. I couldn't see Ron anywhere, but I was certain he was doing to same. They had no real reason to fear, beacuse as soon as she sat down and the sorting hat was on her head, it declared her a "GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindors cheered and greeted Ginny with open arms.

Percy hugged Ginny as she came up to the table and told her to sit by him because "I'm a prefect and I'll be able to help you out. Really, congratulations, Ginny. Mum will be very pleased."

"Hey, where's Ron?" George asked as everything settled down. "And Harry?"

"I don't believe I saw them on the train." I said, looking around. I found that neither of them were sitting at the table. "Maybe they're in the loo."

Fred shrugged, "They must be taking a dump. Maybe they're having a sharing dump."

I made a face at him, "What the hell is that?"

"Such words, Blackbird. A Sharing dump is when friends go to the bathroom to take a dump and while they're in there they talk about life and life's most important questions."

I started laughing, "Why would they do that while in the bathroom?"

"Don't ask me! But it is customary to take a sharing dump in the bathroom. It would be quite disgusting if one took a sharing dump in the Great Hall. Very messy."

I had no words to describe what Fred was talking about. He had hit a whole new level of weird.

The feast was over and done soon enough and before we knew it, Dumbledore was sending us off to bed, wishing us all good day at classes tomorrow. We were walking back to the common room when Neville came running up to us.

"Have you heard? Ron and Harry have just arrived!"

"Just arrived? How did they-"

"They missed the train apparently. Ron took his father's car and drove him and Harry here himself. They're in loads of trouble."

George, Fred and I started laughing. Only Ron and Harry could get into trouble like that. Seamus began laughing too and before we knew all us Gryffindors were fining it hard to walk to the Common Room.

We made it there eventually and Hermione said the password to let us all in (wattlebird), then announced she was going to look for Harry and Ron. We all decided to stay in the Common Room until they returned so we could congratulate them on their achievement.

"It's brilliant!" Seamus said, "Leave it to them to make an entrance like that. I bet that bloody car is going to be the only thing people talk about all year."

I rolled my eyes, "Oh, please. This whole thing will blow over by the end of the week. I'm sure something else will happen this year."

"Doubt it. I bet this year is going to be absolutely boring." Seamus said, "In fact, I'll bet you six gal-"

He was cut off by Hermione, Harry, and Ron entering the Common Room. We burst into cheers and hugged them both.

"Brilliant!" Lee Jordan yelled. "Inspired! What an entrance! Flying a car right into the Whomping Willow, people'll be talking about that one for years-"

Seamus gave me a knowing look as a fifth year congratulated Harry and Ron. Ron was obviously getting very embarrassed from the whole situation and Harry didn't seem to mind at all. From once glance around the room, I could see Percy scowling to himself. He was obviously not pleased with his brother's deeds.

"Got to go upstairs- bit tired." Ron said, waking up the stairs to the boys dormitories. Seamus, Dean, and Neville followed them up happily.

I was walking through the corridors of Hogwarts, everyone's eyes on me. At first, they seemed to be smiling at me. But I quickly found that they were laughing very loudly and pointing at my body.

With one quick glance down, I found that I was naked. Not a piece of cloth covered my body. I could feel the heat rise to every inch of my skin. I tried running away but everywhere I went there were people watching me and laughing in disgust at my crude appearance.

I could feel tears form in my eyes when I saw my friends, my only friends at Hogwarts in a group. They were talking about me and laughing at my expense. Then they saw me watching them and they began laughing too. Seamus pretended I wasn't even his sister.

I began crying and this caused an uproarious amount of cheers and laughter to emit from the mouths of all the students and some teachers.

I curled myself up in a ball and rocked back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and...

"Darcy! Wake up! Darcy!" I was shaken awake by Fay who was looking at me in concern. "Are you okay? You were writhing in your sleep and crying."

I shook my head, "It-it was just a dream. I'm fine. I am."

She pursed her lips. "Are you sure? What was your dream about?"

"Nothing. Just a bad dream. Nothing important. It's fine, I swear."

She frowned, "Are you sure? I can wait up with you..."

"I said I'm fine!" I snapped. I took a look at her face. "I'm sorry, it just kind of freaked me out." I told her.

She nodded, "It's okay. Goodnight."

I watched as she climbed back into bed and fell back asleep. I stayed up for several more minutes. I took a glance at all the girls in the room. They were all sleeping peacefully, but I couldn't help but feel like someone was watching me.

I shivered and snuggled deeper into the blankets.

The next morning, I woke and got dressed alongside Fay. She was talking animatedly about classes and which one she was most excited for. After she left I went into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. I had never been concerned with how I looked before. But now, it seemed, I minded a great deal. I only saw the flaws. Freckles, for one, messy hair, and a booger hanging out of my nose. I quickly pulled the booger out with a tissue. I calmed my mess of hair with a spell and braided it down my back. I looked at the clock and found that I was running late.

I ran out of the bathroom and went back to my bed to get my books. I took a deep breath as I walked down the stairs to the common room. People were still in there. Suddenly, flashes of my dream came back in my mind. I had the terrifying fear that they would all start laughing at me and my clothes would disappear. I slowly walked downstairs and froze when I saw Seamus and Ron looking up at me.

As soon as I saw them, my fear completely crushed me and the stairwell got a fresh layer of ice over it. People looked up at it in confusion. I began hyperventilating and shaking wildly. I fell onto the step I was standing on. I felt Seamus run over to me and he held me tightly.

"Darcy? Are you okay? What happened?" He asked, looking in my eyes. I couldn't answer him. I was too scared. "Darcy? Ron, go tell Professor McGonagall that we need to see Dumbledore."

"No!" I shouted. "I'm fine. I don't need to see Dumbledore. It's- it's just nerves. I'm okay. I promise." I cast a quick fire charm that melted the ice on the stairwell immediately.

"Okay... let's go. We don't want to be late for breakfast."

As soon as we got to the Great Hall, though, my fear returned. I couldn't go in there with all those people. They would stare at me for sure. I bit my lip very hard. I felt my arm begin to shake but I held it still.

"Come on, Darcy." Seamus said, gripping my arm. "Gosh, you're ice-cold. Are you sure you're feeling okay?"

I nodded, "I'm completely fine." I said, wrenching his hand from my arm. He looked suspicious but let go. We continued walking into the Great Hall. I felt like everyone was watching me. It didn't help when I heard a Ravenclaw girl laugh loudly. I shivered again and felt like I was going to blow...

"Hey, Blackbird! Over here!" Fred cried. I looked up and grinned at him and George. Seamus and I walked over to them and sat down.

"Feeling alright there, Darcy?" George asked.

I smiled, "Perfect."

Yay! I like this chapter a lot. If you remember, Elene is Seamus and Darcy's cousin who said she didn't want to get put into Slytherin and (surprise, surprise) she did!

Until next chapter!

xxx

rosslynchandbeyond