Chapter 13
November 2nd, 1989- Remus Lupin's cottage, Yorkshire County, England
The Healer at St. Mungo's hadn't been overly concerned about Siruis' sanity when he saw that the last member of the Black family was able to walk and his own and talk in full sentences. He had still done a full scan, but had quickly proclaimed Sirius to be completely healthy, aside from malnutrition that could be treated with a single potion. That potion though reacted badly with alcohol so Sirius was left to look longingly at the drink in Remus' hand while his friend downed it.
"You want to do what?" Remus asked after he'd taken the time needed to finish his drink to also calm himself down.
"It's just a trip to London, Moony. Nothing bad will happen."
"You don't know the Weasley twins."
"They can't be worse than we were in school."
"They got the elves to hit Dumbledore in the face with a cream pie." Sirius blinked and burst out laughing.
"How did they manage that?"
"Apparently they just asked. But can you see why it would be a bad idea to take them to Muggle London?"
"Eh, kind of. They did go after Dumbledore though. That was smart." Remus shook his head.
"I'm not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?" Sirius grinned.
"Have you ever been able to?"
The answer to that was "No." Remus sighed. "Fine, but you have to ask their parents."
"Alright, can I use your fireplace?"
"It's not connected to the Floo Network—"
"Can we go to your girlfriend's and ask to use her fireplace?"
"—and it's five o'clock in the morning. Go back to sleep, Padfoot." Sirius stuck out his tongue and got up from the couch.
"Fine. It's not my fault that you woke me up trying to sneak in."
"I told you I work nights!"
"Whatever you say, Moony." Remus groaned softly as Siruis went back to the bedroom. He couldn't wait until they got his flat cleaned up so that the former prisoner of Azkaban could move out. He had forgotten how annoying his friend could be.
November 3rd,1989- The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland
Violet Moon stared down the end of her wand. Her roommates watched her and held their breath. "Expecto patronum!" A faint wisp of silvery light rose from the end of her wand and disappeared. Grace Abbot squealed and jumped up and down. Patricia Stimpson screamed while Noe Lie grinned broadly.
"You did it!" Violet suddenly found it hard to breathe as Grace captured her in a bone-crushing hug. "You did it!"
"Very good, Miss Moon," Professor Darrow said with a smile. "That's more than I would expect any first year to accomplish." Professor Babbling nodded.
After Grace finished squeezing her friend to a pulp the other girls took what were their third tries at the Patronus Charm, for that lesson. They'd had three lessons previously and none of them had been able to produce so much as a spark. This time was apparently the charm as each of them managed to produce something before the lesson ended.
"I'm proud of you, Patricia," Violet heard Professor Babbling say as she walked them back to Ravenclaw Tower. "Not many first years would think of trying to learn as much as you have."
"Thank you Ba—Professor. This was Noe's idea though."
"But you're all putting the work in. Most Ravenclaws would only care about knowing the all theory behind the charm, not being able to do it. Patronuses aren't something that wizards need every day."
"Neither are runes," Patricia pointed out. "This is practice for Rune Mastery work." Professor Babbling laughed.
"Oh, Patricia, Rune Mastery will be much harder than this. You really should have been a Hufflepuff."
"I am tall when I'm young; I am short when I'm old. What am I?" asked the eagle doorknocker.
"You are a quill," replied Grace, who was the one who had knocked. "Because quills become shorter the more they are used."
"Well-reasoned." The door swung open. The four of them said goodnight to Professor Babbling before entering their packed common room. It was very close to curfew, so all of the students who would rather be in the library had no choice but to squeeze around desks and try to finish essays and star charts without poking someone in the eye with their quill.
The first year boys had escaped to their dorm room, and the girls did the same, shutting the door just as Penelope Clearwater decided that she wouldn't go up to ask them if they had done their homework. She was stuck between three other people and a wall after all.
Patricia grabbed a book off her bed as soon as she reached it. Violet wasn't sure where she slept because her entire bed was covered with books. She picked one up and read the title page.
"Patricia, why are you reading about one-hundred and one recipes that use reptile meat?" Patricia looked up from the book she was reading.
"I'm not. I just forgot to return that one." Grace and Noe began digging through the rest of the books that were stacked on the bed.
"Monsters and Madness?"
"Deadly Magical Beasts?"
"Dragon Species of Europe?"
"What are you researching?" Patricia shrugged.
"Just something Myrtle mentioned."
"Myrtle who?" Violet asked. She was pretty sure that none of the Ravenclaws were named Myrtle.
"Myrtle Warren. She's the ghost that haunts the girls' washroom on the first floor." Grace frowned.
"The one that's always out of order? Why were you in there?"
"It was Hallowe'en," Patricia said shortly. She put her book back on her bed. "I'm going to get ready to sleep." As she went into their washroom her roommates looked at each other.
"What is with her?" Noe asked. Violet shrugged.
"I don't know. I call using the washroom next."
"Then me," Noe said quickly. Grace grumbled.
"Why am I always last?"
"You're just too slow."
December 16th, 1989- Platform 9 ¾ , King's Cross Station, London, England
Fred and George were quick to be the first ones off the Hogwarts Express, mostly because they were being chased by an enraged Percy. Bill and Charlie Weasley both shook their heads at their brothers, both of them hiding their smiles as they went to meet their parents. Molly tried to hug all of her returning sons at once before she began to scold Fred and George for turning Percy's skin orange.
Remus was standing near the Weasley family with Sirius searching the crowd for a different redhead. She stepped off of the train with a group of her year mates and they overran the platform before she made her way to him. "Hi, Uncle Remus. Hello, Mr. Black." Sirius gave a sweeping bow.
"Greetings, Miss Stimpson, from your humble servant." Remus elbowed him and Patricia giggled.
Lee and the twins dragged their parents over to where Remus, Sirius and Patricia were standing, gaining even more attention than when Sirius had bowed. Sirius wanted to greet the boys the same way he had Patricia, but with Remus staring at him he decided to just go for handshakes.
"Thank you so much for getting me out of prison. Staring at walls gets boring after the first year."
"What's this Arthur was telling me about taking them to Muggle London?" Molly demanded. Remus managed not to roll his eyes, at her or at Sirius. Arranging everything with Arthur rather than Molly was a decision that Sirius would have to take the fallout for himself.
"Just a day trip, Molly. The four firsties, the Jordans, me, Remus, and Remus' girlfriend. You and the rest of the kids are welcome to come too, of course. We just didn't want to stress you out with the planning." Molly opened and closed her mouth.
"Well, that's very nice of you. I think you'll have your hands full with Fred and George—"
"Oi!"
"—but if the older ones would like to go," she looked over at Bill, Charlie, and Percy. "Who am I to refuse?" Bill grinned.
"We won't be any trouble, Mr. Black. Fred and George though…"
"We resent that!"
"Like we're going to wreck a trip to London—"
"—when we've never been to the Muggle side before!" David Jordan's eyes flicked back and forth between the Weasley twins as they spoke. This was the first time he had met his son's friends but he could see how earnest they were.
"I'm sure everything will go just fine, Mrs. Weasley. We'd better be going, but we'll see all of you on Monday, yes?"
"I'll be at work," Arthur said glumly. "But we could find some other time to get together over the holidays? That's what we usually do with the children's' friends."
"Definitely!" David shook Arthur's hand over little Ron Weasley's head. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise."
The Weasleys and Jordans moved towards the barrier between the Wizarding and Muggle platforms while Patricia was finally able to give Remus a hug. The platform was practically empty except for them and a few Muggleborns waiting to go through the barrier, so they didn't have to worry about anyone seeing them knowing that a pure-blood was hugging a possible werewolf.
"I missed you." Remus ruffled Patricia's hair with a smile.
"I missed you to. Let's go home."