Disclaimer : I don't own any of the characters mentioned in the story…
blah blah… Please read and review… please no flames ! I don't want to
leave a bad impression or anything but I would only like good comments or
comments that will help me… nothing like it was a piece of shite (my
friends new word, Lasselanta) Thanks ! Enjoy !
A Day at Hogsmeade
I awoke to a low thunderous sound coming from outside of the castle. I jumped out of my bed and ran to the window, only to find that the heavens had opened and dropped its tears. I took a deep breath and sighed. Today was a Saturday and we were scheduled to go to Hogsmeade. We went every Saturday. I guess Ron must have heard the loud noises too because before I even knew it, he was standing right next to me.
" Good morning Harry." Ron yawned sleepily.
" Good morning Ron." I said a little startled.
" I guess were not going to Hogsmeade today are we..." Ron said in disgust. " Good thing I still have some Bertie and Botts Every Flavor Beans from last weeks visit." He cheered happily.
He ran over to the trunk at the base of his bed and pulled out a wrinkled bag with golden writing, Barely visible. He walked up to me still drowsy and offered me some. I reached my hand and pulled out a bright green bean. Ron told me that it was green apple. I soon found out that it was a joke because I found myself regurgitating. All he could do was laugh. Soon after, I found out it was troll bogie.
Neville woke up and questioned us about why we were laughing. I couldn't say anything because I was still on the floor spitting out the remains of troll bogies in my mouth. Ron must have told him because he went on about he had gotten an ear wax flavored one. I slowly stood up and began to walk from the window to my own trunk.
I pulled out my school uniform, clean and neatly folded. Ron did the same but his was wrinkled and a little dirty. I tried to hold back my sniggers but I think he heard me because he didn't talk to me for about an hour. All the Weasley's were like that; they could never stay mad for more than an hour. They were a poor in temporal things but rich in family value.
Ron, Neville and I walked down the spiral staircase down to the common room. Awaiting us was Hermione, our good friend. She was sitting in front of the fireplace on one of the lounge chairs. I sat down next to her and Ron and Neville next to me. She said her good morning to us and we returned the greeting. She really didn't look up at us because she was too busy working on something. I watched with "amusement" as her sugar quill glided over her piece of parchment. She sucked on the back of her quill as she wrote, probably to invigorate herself for the upcoming day. I don't know why because I assumed that we weren't going to Hogsmeade.
Hermione smiled and put her quill down on the coffee table in front of her. She put her long piece of parchment next to it and the quill fell down to the ground.
" No! Not another one! That's the third one this week!" She squawked. I looked down to the floor to see the crusty remains of sugar scattered on the floor.
"Reparo!" Hermione shouted as she pointed her wand at the grounded quill. The quill shot up from the ground and the little sugar crystals on the floor. The quill floated in mid air and the sugar crystals began encircling the quill. They began to piece together little by little. After it was completely put back together. Hermione recited another spell.
"Cleansio!" She shouted. A bright light radiated from the quill and gave it a good cleaning. Ron and I were amazed at what spells Hermione knew... we would never be like that. I really envied her but I think Ron really liked her. I could tell that their friendship was a rough one when they first met each other but now I know that he really likes her.
Professor McGonagall walked in from the portrait hole and announced that we would still be going to Hogsmeade. We were all overjoyed but still a little blue.
" Now I will be able to buy more sugar quills, and chocolate frogs, bertie and botts..."
" Ok Hermione, we know how excited you are to go." I said strangely.
Hermione had never been so excited to go to Hogsmeade before. She was quite jauntier then usual I have to admit.
Soon after a pondering "moment" Parvati Patil came walking lazily down the spiral staircase from the girls' dormitory. She rubbed her eyes, still a little tired from the hard night of studying. We had our final exams coming up in a few days. I wasn't ready as usual but Hermione seemed to enjoy studying. In a way, she was weird. But she was a friend... a good friend.
I remembered the rough times we had together, Ron Hermione and I. It was just like yesterday. The rumble of thunder outside interrupted my thoughts. Seamus Finnigan came running down the staircase. Literally tripping over the stone steps. It was a little funny but I didn't know why he was so scared. Just as he came "tripping" down the staircase, Parvati took her place on a chair next to the fire. I really didn't notice but Fred and George were playing wizards chess when I came down. They sat on the other side of the table across from the studying bookworm Hermione. Next to their chessboard, I saw a canary puff. I guess they were playing to make the other eat it. Fred was winning and I could see the expressions on both of their faces. Ron was sitting lazily creating little figures with a recent ice spell we had all learned in Charms.
I sat counting down the minutes to the next hour. That was when we were going to leave. I heard a loud laugh that startled me. It awoke me about a half hour later. I guess I had fallen asleep because there was so much time. It was Seamus... poor Seamus. He had just taken a hyena potion that Fred and George had given him. It looked just like butterbeer. He wouldn't be able to stop laughing for at least 10 minutes. Fred and George were running low on prank supplies and they told me that they were going to Zanko's joke shop first thing when they went to Hogsmeade.
I looked at the clock at saw that I had less than half an hour to get down to the great hall and eat breakfast. Ron was getting ready to go and I assumed Hermione was waiting outside for us. I quickly jumped up and ran to the portrait hole.
"Ravenfeather!" I yelled. The portrait hole swung open and allowed me to pass, free of charge. As soon as I exited the comfort of the common room, I saw that Hermione was indeed waiting for us outside near a suit of armor. She was having a little chat about how to make a wolfsbane potion. I listened in a little and found it kind of interesting. I then remembered that we had to eat breakfast so I pulled Hermione away from the quite pleasant conversation. Most of the living things in the castle didn't converse with the students, but this one armored suit was different.
We ran down the long corridor away from Ron who was struggling behind us. It was a lot of fun because every morning, we raced to the great hall. We made a swift right and ran into peeves who was bouncing around the walls as usual. We made him mad because he was setting up small little booby traps all over the castle to catch unsuspecting students. I remember the first time I ran into one. Peeves cursed one of the tapestries's that made me late for class. Since then, I have always been alert when running down the abandoned corridors of the castle. I often wondered the castles with my free time. Ron usually accompanied me.
We make it to the great hall where everyone was already eating. We had about twenty minutes left. This mornings breakfast was a good one. We had pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage links, and sweets by the pound. Hermione ate like a normal girl would and Ron ate like a sloppy pig. He shoved his mouth with pancakes, drowned by maple syrup. At least I cut my food before I ate it. When we had all finished, it was time for the daily mail. The window's in the great hall flung open and the owl traffic flooded in. There was very little mail that I had received. A letter from Hagrid and a recent sickle return from the Leaky Cauldron last time I was in Diagon Alley. I opened the slightly crumpled letter from Hagrid... it read:
Dear Harry,
It's good ter Her Frm ya! How R ya Doing? I heard that going to Hogsmeade today isn't canceled... That's good. I hope yer Enjoy Yrself! OH! If yer have time, visit the Three Brmstics and see Madam Zelda and say "Honey Bee" and she'll give yer a message. Don't Read it pleze. Thank ya..
P.S. Please Escuse the Spellin! Hagrid.
I wondered what the message was. I guess I would soon find out. After the owls delivered all of their mail and the students opening and reading them, Headmaster Dumbledore announced that we would soon be leaving. I could see that Fred and George were getting spunked up because they could buy more jokes and pranks to play on the Slytherin students. I really enjoyed watching the Slytherins get picked on. Maybe it was because Draco Malfoy was in that house or maybe it was because I was really all the time.
Professor Dumbledore asked us to exit the castle by house with their prefects. Ravenclaw house stood up and walked out of the great hall first. Ravenclaw was always first. According to Hermione. I don't know why though. We were next.
Our entire house, stretched across the long, wooden tables of the great hall stood up and walked out. We walked down the long corridor to the entrance of the castle. Along the way we had to walk past the door to the dreaded dungeon where potions and Defence against the Dark Arts classes were held. I hated it down there. It was really cold and gloomy and it seemed to be haunted. What am I crazy? The entire castle is haunted with wandering ghosts, ghouls, talking portraits, living suits of armor! What was I thinking?
After we exited the large, grand doors to the castle, we were greeted with a cold gloomy sky and the beckon of the forbidden forest. As we walked down the stone stairs, we passed the Herbology class. One of Hermione's favorites. I didn't like any of the classes Hogwarts had to offer. The castle grounds were empty, like a ghost town. I had a bad feeling about going to Hogsmeade. When we finally got to the trail leading to Hogwarts, I realize that Fred and George weren't with the group. They probably went to the statue of the witch with its hump. I still remember the words to open that secret passageway that leads to Honeydukes. I think the incantation was "Dissenendium!"
As we walked along the trail to Hogsmeade, I thought how nice it would be to get a butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks.
"Yummmmmmmmy... Butterbeer..." I thought drooling.
Oh how I couldn't wait to get there. I also had to get that message for Hagrid from Madam Zelda. We finally reached the Hogsmeade train station. It was only a little ways furthur. It was really cold and wet and miserable. I could see the other students suffering like I did. Hermione's hair was knotted and wet. Ron was looking a little pail and so was Neville but he always did look like that. I had no idea what I looked like and I really didn't want to know.
Seamus fell down a few times along the way but Lee Jordan was there to help him. Seamus was a very clumsy person... even when mixing ingrediments in Potions class and when reciting spells in Charms. He always managed to mess things up. It was funny at times but once, he almost killed himself. That wasn't very funny. He was in the Hospital Wing for days.
We finally got there after what seemed like hours. We were all cold and clammy and tired. I was overjoyed now becuase I could get my butterbeer.
Professor McGonagall said that we had four hours to spend. Then she said we could go. Hermione, Ron and I decided to go to the Three Broomsticks and get the message first. I didn't want to tell because Hagrid might want it to be a secret.
"Oooh! Butterbeer!" Ron said eagerly.
"No reason to become obsessed Ron." Hermione said sarcastically.
We all walked up to the Three Broomsticks and went in. The noise of the many people filled the air with a cheery sound. The room was nice and warm and friendly. I was really happy to be out of the rain. I looked to see if Fred and George had stopped by but I didn't see them. They usually spent all of their time at Zanko's Joke Shop. I think they were still there testing out the different, new gadgets, invented every week for them because they were Zanko's best customers. They were "special".
When we got inside, we walked up to the counter and ordered three butterbeer's. The witch at the counter had us take our seats and said we would have it delivered to our table. We looked over the crowded room and spotted a table near the front of the counter. We sat down and talked about what we were going to do next. We planned that we would go to Honeydukes next, then Zanko's, and then Dervish and Banges because Hermione needed a new cloak and Ron a new wand. He was always breaking them or something wrong always happened to him.
A strange, plump woman appeared in front of us carrying our three butterbeer's. She had black long hair tied up into a bun and she was wearing a green cloak with a really old witches hat. She also had glasses. Big, round glasses.
"That will be 4 sickles please..."
" Are you Madam Zelda?" I asked inquisitively.
"Why yes I am! What is it that you want dear child...?'
I signaled her so I could tell her the password.
"Honeybee!" I whispered.
"Oh my goodness! Are you friends of Hagrid?! The drinks are on the house! Oh! Here..." she said in a whisper.
She handed me a golden envelope with the Three Broomsticks seal on it. It must have been very important and I knew Ron was itching to ask me what it was as soon as Madam Zelda left.
"Give this to him as soon as possible!" she said in a very important tone.
Then, she scurried off to help make more butterbeer.
"What is that Harry? And who was that?" Ron said.
I knew he was going to ask me that. I bet Hermione wanted to know too. She was just to prideful to ask me though. Sure enough, she asked me too. I had to tell them now, even though I knew very little. I told them everything about getting the message from Hagrid at breakfast to who Madam Zelda was. I didn't tell them the password though.
We stood up and walked to the Three Broomsticks exit. There on the wall was a map of Hogsmeade. I memorized it but we had to stop because Ron didn't.
As fast as we came out, we wanted to go back in even faster. It was still raining and very cold. I could tell it wasn't really bothering Hermione because all she wanted to do was buy more sweets. We crossed High Street and walked a few buildings down to Honeydukes. We did manage to stay pretty dry thanks to Hermione's water repelling charm.
As we entered Honeydukes, the air was filled with the smell of freshly baked fudge. We soaked in as much as possible and explored the shop. I went over to the Pepper Imps and took a handful. I loved to breath fire when it was really cold. Along with breathing fire when it was cold, I also took a handful of Ice Mice candies to cool me down when it was hot. I took a bag from the front desk and filled it to the top with different candies like Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Fizzing Whizbees, Droobles Best Blowing Gum, Cockroach Clusters, sugar quills, Acid Pops, Jelly Slugs, chocolates galore, Licorice Wands, Peppermint Toads, exploding bon-bons, and fudge flies. I would go and ask Fred and George for some Canary Puffs and Ton Tongue Toffees. Those were pretty fun too.
Hermione was stocking up on sugar quills, Chocolate frogs and Bertie and Botts Every Flavor Beans while Ron was getting Acid Pops and Licorice Wands. I never wanted to leave this place. It was the best.
"I think Fred and George came through the underground passageway using the hump on the old witch statue." I said to Ron and Hermione.
They weren't paying attention so I deiced that I would go and buy all of my goodies. The total came out to 24 sickles and 4 knuts. I didn't mind, I had a lot of money in the Gringotts vaults.
After Ron and Hermione finally finished their sweet shopping, we decided that we would now go to Zanko's. Again, we had to walk through the rain and again Hermione's charm kept us nice and dry. We had to only walk a few building down on the same side of the street. Soon afterwards, we would have to walk all the way down to the end of the street to get to Dervish and Banges.
We tried to run because it was raining harder than ever. The sun had been crying, releasing its sorrow on the world. We entered Zanko's joke shop, immediately we saw Fred and George hovering over new pranks created by Zanko himself. George still looked a little "feathery" from the recent incident with the Canary cream. Fred turned to us to say hi bug George was too busy fighting with the new wrestling bow tie. It had him "head locked". All we could do was laugh. There were many amazing gadgets and gizmos in his shop and they all had a trump card somewhere in them.
Ron walked over to the front desk. His brother George, still wrestling the killer tie walked over with him... in a small run though. I guessed he was going to ask for some help. I don't know what Ron was looking for so I decided to see what Hermione was doing. She had bought some of that Droobles Best Bubblegum. I saw her sneak one into her mouth. I assumed she was going to play a prank on the unsuspecting Fred and I was right. She blew a big bubble of the prettiest bluebell color I had ever seen and aimed it straight at Fred's hair. It landed with a glob and wouldn't pop for days. If you didn't already know, making water proof flames was one of Hermione's specialties. I don't know why...
George managed to get the tie off of his face and Ron got his shrieking chocolate frog and Hermione got her laugh for the day. What was I going to get? I don't know. I decided that I should get some dung bombs and a new invention that Zanko had recently made. They were called exploding cauldron mix. Now I could slip a little bit into Malfoy's cauldron and make his entire house suffer because of the harsh punishments of Snape. He would probably lose house points and the respect of Snape. It would be perfect!
George. Poor George. He was always getting picked on by his brother Fred. Why was his brother so mean? At least Hermione repaid the favor.
After we all finished shopping at Zanko's and said out good bye's to Fred and George, who were still having their brotherly problems, we decided to go to Dervish and Banges to pick up some more supplies.
We must have spent a lot of time in Zanko's because it stopped raining. Our water repelling charms were fading anyway. The sun shone bright through the wispy clouds above and the birds began to chirp again. It was a lovely sound, compared to the loud booming of thunder and lightning. We looked across the street and saw Parvati chasing Seamus down past the different shops. She looked really upset. Hermione could only laugh because a girl was chasing a boy. Ron was a little shaken at the thought but at least Seamus looked happy. He must have played a prank on him or something. It must have been a really funny one or a really bad one because Parvati Patil never got mad. She never got mad in our first year at Hogwarts. She got the award for being the only girl who managed to never get mad at anyone. I think that Seamus might have a crush on Parvati.
We crossed the street when it was safe of stampeding Parvatis' and began what seemed like a long walk to Dervish and Banges. Hermione was still blowing bubbles with her gum. I watched them as they floated away, big, brilliant, blue bubbles the size of large softballs. I always wondered how she got them to be so big. I could tell Ron was having a lot of fun playing with his Fire Imps. Those were probably one of my favorite candies because I could blow fire out of my mouth. Ron blew fire at all the bubbles that Hermione made and finally managed to annoy her. She cast a sealing charm, which didn't allow Ron to open his mouth until we go there. Ron stayed quiet for the rest of the way to Dervish and Banges.
The room was cool, not hot, but cool. In the background, you could hear shopping music like you would at Longs (muggle world) or any other shopping area. It really annoyed me because he remembered all the times I had to go shopping and cook for the Dursley's. YUK! The music they listened to was awful! How could anyone stand country music!
Ron walked leisurely over to the wand section and pulled out a box labeled "used". The ink was kind of smeary and the box dusty. He looked a little sad so I went over and told him he could have the best wand the store had to offer. He was overjoyed. He slid the dusty old box back into the shelf and pulled out a brand new, golden boxed wand. It was made of Mahogany and was 9 1/2 inches long. It contained the hair of a golden unicorn. Ron had never been so happy in his life. Now Malfoy couldn't tease him about being poor. He did a victory dance around the broom stand and around the extremely expensive, fine, cloaks where Hermione looked at him oddly.
Hemione on the other hand was also filled with joy because they had the perfect robe for her in the right size too. There were rarely ever Hermione's size of cloak on the rack. She took the long, silk, emerald cloak off the stand and tried it on. Twirling to see if it was real, not just a dream. I didn't need anything from the shop that day so I decided that I would go outside and wait for them when they got finished. I slowly walked around the hat section to the door and opened it. I walked out into the world outside, away from that annoying store music.
The sensation of the air condition faded when I stepped out of the store. I walked to a nearby wall on the side of the building and leaned on it. I pulled out an ice mice candy and popped it into my mouth, It was beginning to get really hot. I closed my eyes and smiled at the cool, refreshing taste. Without warning, I began to squeak like a mouse. I had totally forgotten about the other side effects of the ice mice candies. I made that odd squeaking noise every time I opened my mouth. I couldn't stop laughing or rather "squeaking". After about 10 minutes, the sound faded away, as well as the flavor. BOOM!
I opened my tired, lazy eyes and reached for my glasses on the nightstand to my left. I put my glasses on and looked around the room. At the foot of my bed there sat Ron and Hermione, waiting for me to wake up.
"Harry!" They both shouted in unison. The sound was so loud, it woke up the Ravenclaw student in the bed next to me. He jumped up and nearly fell off of his bed.
"Sorry!" They both said to him in their most apologetic voices.
"Hey guys, where am I?
"Your in the Hospital Wing." Said Hermione.
"What happened?" I asked.
"It's a long story... We found you lying on the ground on the side of Dervish and Banges... Next to you was a bludger. It was all my brother Fred's fault. He was checking out the quiddich section in the store and accidentally let out a bludger that broke a window and hit you in the head. I think that's what happened?" He said inquisitively.
"I'm really tired... I think I'm going to bed now..." I said as I began to fall asleep again. My eyelids got heavier by the second so I finally closed them and fell asleep.
"I could tell Ron and Hermione had so much to tell me but I wasn't in the mood... they could tell me all about it tomorrow...
A Day at Hogsmeade
I awoke to a low thunderous sound coming from outside of the castle. I jumped out of my bed and ran to the window, only to find that the heavens had opened and dropped its tears. I took a deep breath and sighed. Today was a Saturday and we were scheduled to go to Hogsmeade. We went every Saturday. I guess Ron must have heard the loud noises too because before I even knew it, he was standing right next to me.
" Good morning Harry." Ron yawned sleepily.
" Good morning Ron." I said a little startled.
" I guess were not going to Hogsmeade today are we..." Ron said in disgust. " Good thing I still have some Bertie and Botts Every Flavor Beans from last weeks visit." He cheered happily.
He ran over to the trunk at the base of his bed and pulled out a wrinkled bag with golden writing, Barely visible. He walked up to me still drowsy and offered me some. I reached my hand and pulled out a bright green bean. Ron told me that it was green apple. I soon found out that it was a joke because I found myself regurgitating. All he could do was laugh. Soon after, I found out it was troll bogie.
Neville woke up and questioned us about why we were laughing. I couldn't say anything because I was still on the floor spitting out the remains of troll bogies in my mouth. Ron must have told him because he went on about he had gotten an ear wax flavored one. I slowly stood up and began to walk from the window to my own trunk.
I pulled out my school uniform, clean and neatly folded. Ron did the same but his was wrinkled and a little dirty. I tried to hold back my sniggers but I think he heard me because he didn't talk to me for about an hour. All the Weasley's were like that; they could never stay mad for more than an hour. They were a poor in temporal things but rich in family value.
Ron, Neville and I walked down the spiral staircase down to the common room. Awaiting us was Hermione, our good friend. She was sitting in front of the fireplace on one of the lounge chairs. I sat down next to her and Ron and Neville next to me. She said her good morning to us and we returned the greeting. She really didn't look up at us because she was too busy working on something. I watched with "amusement" as her sugar quill glided over her piece of parchment. She sucked on the back of her quill as she wrote, probably to invigorate herself for the upcoming day. I don't know why because I assumed that we weren't going to Hogsmeade.
Hermione smiled and put her quill down on the coffee table in front of her. She put her long piece of parchment next to it and the quill fell down to the ground.
" No! Not another one! That's the third one this week!" She squawked. I looked down to the floor to see the crusty remains of sugar scattered on the floor.
"Reparo!" Hermione shouted as she pointed her wand at the grounded quill. The quill shot up from the ground and the little sugar crystals on the floor. The quill floated in mid air and the sugar crystals began encircling the quill. They began to piece together little by little. After it was completely put back together. Hermione recited another spell.
"Cleansio!" She shouted. A bright light radiated from the quill and gave it a good cleaning. Ron and I were amazed at what spells Hermione knew... we would never be like that. I really envied her but I think Ron really liked her. I could tell that their friendship was a rough one when they first met each other but now I know that he really likes her.
Professor McGonagall walked in from the portrait hole and announced that we would still be going to Hogsmeade. We were all overjoyed but still a little blue.
" Now I will be able to buy more sugar quills, and chocolate frogs, bertie and botts..."
" Ok Hermione, we know how excited you are to go." I said strangely.
Hermione had never been so excited to go to Hogsmeade before. She was quite jauntier then usual I have to admit.
Soon after a pondering "moment" Parvati Patil came walking lazily down the spiral staircase from the girls' dormitory. She rubbed her eyes, still a little tired from the hard night of studying. We had our final exams coming up in a few days. I wasn't ready as usual but Hermione seemed to enjoy studying. In a way, she was weird. But she was a friend... a good friend.
I remembered the rough times we had together, Ron Hermione and I. It was just like yesterday. The rumble of thunder outside interrupted my thoughts. Seamus Finnigan came running down the staircase. Literally tripping over the stone steps. It was a little funny but I didn't know why he was so scared. Just as he came "tripping" down the staircase, Parvati took her place on a chair next to the fire. I really didn't notice but Fred and George were playing wizards chess when I came down. They sat on the other side of the table across from the studying bookworm Hermione. Next to their chessboard, I saw a canary puff. I guess they were playing to make the other eat it. Fred was winning and I could see the expressions on both of their faces. Ron was sitting lazily creating little figures with a recent ice spell we had all learned in Charms.
I sat counting down the minutes to the next hour. That was when we were going to leave. I heard a loud laugh that startled me. It awoke me about a half hour later. I guess I had fallen asleep because there was so much time. It was Seamus... poor Seamus. He had just taken a hyena potion that Fred and George had given him. It looked just like butterbeer. He wouldn't be able to stop laughing for at least 10 minutes. Fred and George were running low on prank supplies and they told me that they were going to Zanko's joke shop first thing when they went to Hogsmeade.
I looked at the clock at saw that I had less than half an hour to get down to the great hall and eat breakfast. Ron was getting ready to go and I assumed Hermione was waiting outside for us. I quickly jumped up and ran to the portrait hole.
"Ravenfeather!" I yelled. The portrait hole swung open and allowed me to pass, free of charge. As soon as I exited the comfort of the common room, I saw that Hermione was indeed waiting for us outside near a suit of armor. She was having a little chat about how to make a wolfsbane potion. I listened in a little and found it kind of interesting. I then remembered that we had to eat breakfast so I pulled Hermione away from the quite pleasant conversation. Most of the living things in the castle didn't converse with the students, but this one armored suit was different.
We ran down the long corridor away from Ron who was struggling behind us. It was a lot of fun because every morning, we raced to the great hall. We made a swift right and ran into peeves who was bouncing around the walls as usual. We made him mad because he was setting up small little booby traps all over the castle to catch unsuspecting students. I remember the first time I ran into one. Peeves cursed one of the tapestries's that made me late for class. Since then, I have always been alert when running down the abandoned corridors of the castle. I often wondered the castles with my free time. Ron usually accompanied me.
We make it to the great hall where everyone was already eating. We had about twenty minutes left. This mornings breakfast was a good one. We had pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage links, and sweets by the pound. Hermione ate like a normal girl would and Ron ate like a sloppy pig. He shoved his mouth with pancakes, drowned by maple syrup. At least I cut my food before I ate it. When we had all finished, it was time for the daily mail. The window's in the great hall flung open and the owl traffic flooded in. There was very little mail that I had received. A letter from Hagrid and a recent sickle return from the Leaky Cauldron last time I was in Diagon Alley. I opened the slightly crumpled letter from Hagrid... it read:
Dear Harry,
It's good ter Her Frm ya! How R ya Doing? I heard that going to Hogsmeade today isn't canceled... That's good. I hope yer Enjoy Yrself! OH! If yer have time, visit the Three Brmstics and see Madam Zelda and say "Honey Bee" and she'll give yer a message. Don't Read it pleze. Thank ya..
P.S. Please Escuse the Spellin! Hagrid.
I wondered what the message was. I guess I would soon find out. After the owls delivered all of their mail and the students opening and reading them, Headmaster Dumbledore announced that we would soon be leaving. I could see that Fred and George were getting spunked up because they could buy more jokes and pranks to play on the Slytherin students. I really enjoyed watching the Slytherins get picked on. Maybe it was because Draco Malfoy was in that house or maybe it was because I was really all the time.
Professor Dumbledore asked us to exit the castle by house with their prefects. Ravenclaw house stood up and walked out of the great hall first. Ravenclaw was always first. According to Hermione. I don't know why though. We were next.
Our entire house, stretched across the long, wooden tables of the great hall stood up and walked out. We walked down the long corridor to the entrance of the castle. Along the way we had to walk past the door to the dreaded dungeon where potions and Defence against the Dark Arts classes were held. I hated it down there. It was really cold and gloomy and it seemed to be haunted. What am I crazy? The entire castle is haunted with wandering ghosts, ghouls, talking portraits, living suits of armor! What was I thinking?
After we exited the large, grand doors to the castle, we were greeted with a cold gloomy sky and the beckon of the forbidden forest. As we walked down the stone stairs, we passed the Herbology class. One of Hermione's favorites. I didn't like any of the classes Hogwarts had to offer. The castle grounds were empty, like a ghost town. I had a bad feeling about going to Hogsmeade. When we finally got to the trail leading to Hogwarts, I realize that Fred and George weren't with the group. They probably went to the statue of the witch with its hump. I still remember the words to open that secret passageway that leads to Honeydukes. I think the incantation was "Dissenendium!"
As we walked along the trail to Hogsmeade, I thought how nice it would be to get a butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks.
"Yummmmmmmmy... Butterbeer..." I thought drooling.
Oh how I couldn't wait to get there. I also had to get that message for Hagrid from Madam Zelda. We finally reached the Hogsmeade train station. It was only a little ways furthur. It was really cold and wet and miserable. I could see the other students suffering like I did. Hermione's hair was knotted and wet. Ron was looking a little pail and so was Neville but he always did look like that. I had no idea what I looked like and I really didn't want to know.
Seamus fell down a few times along the way but Lee Jordan was there to help him. Seamus was a very clumsy person... even when mixing ingrediments in Potions class and when reciting spells in Charms. He always managed to mess things up. It was funny at times but once, he almost killed himself. That wasn't very funny. He was in the Hospital Wing for days.
We finally got there after what seemed like hours. We were all cold and clammy and tired. I was overjoyed now becuase I could get my butterbeer.
Professor McGonagall said that we had four hours to spend. Then she said we could go. Hermione, Ron and I decided to go to the Three Broomsticks and get the message first. I didn't want to tell because Hagrid might want it to be a secret.
"Oooh! Butterbeer!" Ron said eagerly.
"No reason to become obsessed Ron." Hermione said sarcastically.
We all walked up to the Three Broomsticks and went in. The noise of the many people filled the air with a cheery sound. The room was nice and warm and friendly. I was really happy to be out of the rain. I looked to see if Fred and George had stopped by but I didn't see them. They usually spent all of their time at Zanko's Joke Shop. I think they were still there testing out the different, new gadgets, invented every week for them because they were Zanko's best customers. They were "special".
When we got inside, we walked up to the counter and ordered three butterbeer's. The witch at the counter had us take our seats and said we would have it delivered to our table. We looked over the crowded room and spotted a table near the front of the counter. We sat down and talked about what we were going to do next. We planned that we would go to Honeydukes next, then Zanko's, and then Dervish and Banges because Hermione needed a new cloak and Ron a new wand. He was always breaking them or something wrong always happened to him.
A strange, plump woman appeared in front of us carrying our three butterbeer's. She had black long hair tied up into a bun and she was wearing a green cloak with a really old witches hat. She also had glasses. Big, round glasses.
"That will be 4 sickles please..."
" Are you Madam Zelda?" I asked inquisitively.
"Why yes I am! What is it that you want dear child...?'
I signaled her so I could tell her the password.
"Honeybee!" I whispered.
"Oh my goodness! Are you friends of Hagrid?! The drinks are on the house! Oh! Here..." she said in a whisper.
She handed me a golden envelope with the Three Broomsticks seal on it. It must have been very important and I knew Ron was itching to ask me what it was as soon as Madam Zelda left.
"Give this to him as soon as possible!" she said in a very important tone.
Then, she scurried off to help make more butterbeer.
"What is that Harry? And who was that?" Ron said.
I knew he was going to ask me that. I bet Hermione wanted to know too. She was just to prideful to ask me though. Sure enough, she asked me too. I had to tell them now, even though I knew very little. I told them everything about getting the message from Hagrid at breakfast to who Madam Zelda was. I didn't tell them the password though.
We stood up and walked to the Three Broomsticks exit. There on the wall was a map of Hogsmeade. I memorized it but we had to stop because Ron didn't.
As fast as we came out, we wanted to go back in even faster. It was still raining and very cold. I could tell it wasn't really bothering Hermione because all she wanted to do was buy more sweets. We crossed High Street and walked a few buildings down to Honeydukes. We did manage to stay pretty dry thanks to Hermione's water repelling charm.
As we entered Honeydukes, the air was filled with the smell of freshly baked fudge. We soaked in as much as possible and explored the shop. I went over to the Pepper Imps and took a handful. I loved to breath fire when it was really cold. Along with breathing fire when it was cold, I also took a handful of Ice Mice candies to cool me down when it was hot. I took a bag from the front desk and filled it to the top with different candies like Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Fizzing Whizbees, Droobles Best Blowing Gum, Cockroach Clusters, sugar quills, Acid Pops, Jelly Slugs, chocolates galore, Licorice Wands, Peppermint Toads, exploding bon-bons, and fudge flies. I would go and ask Fred and George for some Canary Puffs and Ton Tongue Toffees. Those were pretty fun too.
Hermione was stocking up on sugar quills, Chocolate frogs and Bertie and Botts Every Flavor Beans while Ron was getting Acid Pops and Licorice Wands. I never wanted to leave this place. It was the best.
"I think Fred and George came through the underground passageway using the hump on the old witch statue." I said to Ron and Hermione.
They weren't paying attention so I deiced that I would go and buy all of my goodies. The total came out to 24 sickles and 4 knuts. I didn't mind, I had a lot of money in the Gringotts vaults.
After Ron and Hermione finally finished their sweet shopping, we decided that we would now go to Zanko's. Again, we had to walk through the rain and again Hermione's charm kept us nice and dry. We had to only walk a few building down on the same side of the street. Soon afterwards, we would have to walk all the way down to the end of the street to get to Dervish and Banges.
We tried to run because it was raining harder than ever. The sun had been crying, releasing its sorrow on the world. We entered Zanko's joke shop, immediately we saw Fred and George hovering over new pranks created by Zanko himself. George still looked a little "feathery" from the recent incident with the Canary cream. Fred turned to us to say hi bug George was too busy fighting with the new wrestling bow tie. It had him "head locked". All we could do was laugh. There were many amazing gadgets and gizmos in his shop and they all had a trump card somewhere in them.
Ron walked over to the front desk. His brother George, still wrestling the killer tie walked over with him... in a small run though. I guessed he was going to ask for some help. I don't know what Ron was looking for so I decided to see what Hermione was doing. She had bought some of that Droobles Best Bubblegum. I saw her sneak one into her mouth. I assumed she was going to play a prank on the unsuspecting Fred and I was right. She blew a big bubble of the prettiest bluebell color I had ever seen and aimed it straight at Fred's hair. It landed with a glob and wouldn't pop for days. If you didn't already know, making water proof flames was one of Hermione's specialties. I don't know why...
George managed to get the tie off of his face and Ron got his shrieking chocolate frog and Hermione got her laugh for the day. What was I going to get? I don't know. I decided that I should get some dung bombs and a new invention that Zanko had recently made. They were called exploding cauldron mix. Now I could slip a little bit into Malfoy's cauldron and make his entire house suffer because of the harsh punishments of Snape. He would probably lose house points and the respect of Snape. It would be perfect!
George. Poor George. He was always getting picked on by his brother Fred. Why was his brother so mean? At least Hermione repaid the favor.
After we all finished shopping at Zanko's and said out good bye's to Fred and George, who were still having their brotherly problems, we decided to go to Dervish and Banges to pick up some more supplies.
We must have spent a lot of time in Zanko's because it stopped raining. Our water repelling charms were fading anyway. The sun shone bright through the wispy clouds above and the birds began to chirp again. It was a lovely sound, compared to the loud booming of thunder and lightning. We looked across the street and saw Parvati chasing Seamus down past the different shops. She looked really upset. Hermione could only laugh because a girl was chasing a boy. Ron was a little shaken at the thought but at least Seamus looked happy. He must have played a prank on him or something. It must have been a really funny one or a really bad one because Parvati Patil never got mad. She never got mad in our first year at Hogwarts. She got the award for being the only girl who managed to never get mad at anyone. I think that Seamus might have a crush on Parvati.
We crossed the street when it was safe of stampeding Parvatis' and began what seemed like a long walk to Dervish and Banges. Hermione was still blowing bubbles with her gum. I watched them as they floated away, big, brilliant, blue bubbles the size of large softballs. I always wondered how she got them to be so big. I could tell Ron was having a lot of fun playing with his Fire Imps. Those were probably one of my favorite candies because I could blow fire out of my mouth. Ron blew fire at all the bubbles that Hermione made and finally managed to annoy her. She cast a sealing charm, which didn't allow Ron to open his mouth until we go there. Ron stayed quiet for the rest of the way to Dervish and Banges.
The room was cool, not hot, but cool. In the background, you could hear shopping music like you would at Longs (muggle world) or any other shopping area. It really annoyed me because he remembered all the times I had to go shopping and cook for the Dursley's. YUK! The music they listened to was awful! How could anyone stand country music!
Ron walked leisurely over to the wand section and pulled out a box labeled "used". The ink was kind of smeary and the box dusty. He looked a little sad so I went over and told him he could have the best wand the store had to offer. He was overjoyed. He slid the dusty old box back into the shelf and pulled out a brand new, golden boxed wand. It was made of Mahogany and was 9 1/2 inches long. It contained the hair of a golden unicorn. Ron had never been so happy in his life. Now Malfoy couldn't tease him about being poor. He did a victory dance around the broom stand and around the extremely expensive, fine, cloaks where Hermione looked at him oddly.
Hemione on the other hand was also filled with joy because they had the perfect robe for her in the right size too. There were rarely ever Hermione's size of cloak on the rack. She took the long, silk, emerald cloak off the stand and tried it on. Twirling to see if it was real, not just a dream. I didn't need anything from the shop that day so I decided that I would go outside and wait for them when they got finished. I slowly walked around the hat section to the door and opened it. I walked out into the world outside, away from that annoying store music.
The sensation of the air condition faded when I stepped out of the store. I walked to a nearby wall on the side of the building and leaned on it. I pulled out an ice mice candy and popped it into my mouth, It was beginning to get really hot. I closed my eyes and smiled at the cool, refreshing taste. Without warning, I began to squeak like a mouse. I had totally forgotten about the other side effects of the ice mice candies. I made that odd squeaking noise every time I opened my mouth. I couldn't stop laughing or rather "squeaking". After about 10 minutes, the sound faded away, as well as the flavor. BOOM!
I opened my tired, lazy eyes and reached for my glasses on the nightstand to my left. I put my glasses on and looked around the room. At the foot of my bed there sat Ron and Hermione, waiting for me to wake up.
"Harry!" They both shouted in unison. The sound was so loud, it woke up the Ravenclaw student in the bed next to me. He jumped up and nearly fell off of his bed.
"Sorry!" They both said to him in their most apologetic voices.
"Hey guys, where am I?
"Your in the Hospital Wing." Said Hermione.
"What happened?" I asked.
"It's a long story... We found you lying on the ground on the side of Dervish and Banges... Next to you was a bludger. It was all my brother Fred's fault. He was checking out the quiddich section in the store and accidentally let out a bludger that broke a window and hit you in the head. I think that's what happened?" He said inquisitively.
"I'm really tired... I think I'm going to bed now..." I said as I began to fall asleep again. My eyelids got heavier by the second so I finally closed them and fell asleep.
"I could tell Ron and Hermione had so much to tell me but I wasn't in the mood... they could tell me all about it tomorrow...