An End of a Beginning
Anna slept all day Friday, not really worried about missing Defense Against the Dark Arts. However, she was woken early afternoon by pounding footsteps racing up the Ravenclaw stairs like a heard of small Erumpents. Anna lifted herself from her bed, bleary eyed, just in time to see Padma race round the corner, closely followed by the other three. They all scurried to Anna's bed, Mandy landing hard on Anna's knees. Anna winced. "Ouch, Mandy!" Then, looking at their faces – "Well, what is it?"
Lisa raised her eyebrows. "Wait till you hear what happened last night!"
Anna sat in rapt attention as the others proceeded to tell her about Professor Quirrell and Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone, her own secret adventure forgotten for the time being.
"We knew something was wrong this morning when Dumbledore came in and announced there would be no class today…"
"We would've told you sooner, but everyone was talking about it at lunch…"
"Can you believe he was working for You-Know-Who?"
Ophelia shuddered, even though it was quite warm. The girls all exchanged a solemn look. A warm breeze blew in through the window, and the moment passed. Mandy walked over and leaned on the sill. "It's a lovely day," she commented, "and we have nothing better to do than sit outside." She grinned. "And drop that book, Ophelia. We're having none of that this afternoon. Besides, I know you've already read it."
For once, Ophelia went happily along with the plan.
It was a wonderful weekend, and to top it off, Saturday was the championship for the Quidditch Cup. It had almost been forgotten in all the excitement surrounding Quirrell's disappearance – almost. But come Saturday afternoon, the whole school was out at the Quidditch pitch, banners in hand. The Ravenclaw girls were decorated as usual with their blue ribbons, and Lisa had taken the liberty of charming her black school robes a deep blue. Padma had been worried about what the teachers would think, but as Flitwick saw them racing down the main staircase, he only grinned and waved a tiny hand. Sitting up high in the bleachers, Anna was on the edge of her seat, along with the rest of her house. Lee Jordan provided the commentary as usual.
"Gryffindor takes on reserve player Juliet Fawcett as the extra chaser, Angelina Johnson trades over to seeker for this match, as the usual Gryffindor seeker, Harry Potter, is out cold in the hospital wing." At this news, Anna started. She hadn't known Ophelia's sister was going to play. She glanced quickly at Ophelia, and was surprised to see her standing up, yelling, "Go Eagles!" at the top of her lungs along with the others. Anna smiled to herself. Felia had finally found her home at Hogwarts.
"And they're off!"
The game started faster than any of the games Anna had watched all year. Within the first minute, Phillip Phelps had scored. "Shake it off Wood," cried Lee. "Needless to say, Gryffindor is feeling a little shaky without their regular keeper, but should be able to pull through with the changes in their line-up."
Sure enough, at that moment, the Gryffindor chasers got possession of the Quaffle. The third girls passed off down the field. "Bell, to Fawcett… who deposits to Spinnet… and ALICIA SCORES! McKinnion wasn't set for that at all. Score is now even at ten."
Almost immediately, Katie Bells scored again. Anna glanced over to see Lisa with her fingers digging into her face. "We can't loose," she whispered. "Not this game." Anna nodded, and took Lisa's hand firmly in her own.
Just then a streak of blue with light brown hair zoomed past. Anna watched, her mouth agape. "What's Roger doing?"
It was clear enough after a moment, when he joined Phillip and Bridget at the goal. Bridget tossed him the Quaffle… Wood miscalculated… and in went the ball! "Davies scores… twenty-twenty. This is shaping up to be the game of the year!" proclaimed Lee.
"Only if Gryffindor wins," muttered Padma, her eyes still on the match. Lisa giggled.
"Can you really blame him for rooting for his house?"
"No… we just need a Ravenclaw announcer to even things up."
But after the first ten minutes, Gryffindor began to lag. The Ravenclaw points racked up higher and higher as the game progressed. Gryffindor managed a single goal, but their game was going downhill with every Ravenclaw steal.
"But it can't just be Harry Potter," said Lisa sensibly. "After all, he's only the seeker."
"It's the psychology of it," said Mandy, a manic gleam in her eye. "Potter's their golden boy. Without him, morale is down. They haven't even had time to practice this way… no offence, Felia. Julie's doing great. The team's just… down."
At that opportune moment, Bridget ducked a Weasley bludger to score yet another goal. Wood smacked his head against the goal post in frustration before roaring out more orders to his disheartened team.
"What are we at now?" asked Anna meekly. "I've lost count."
"80-30… we're up, obviously."
Anna stared at Padma. She must have missed a lot. As exciting as Quidditch was, Anna still had a better time watching her friend's reactions than the actual game. She turned back to see a Ravenclaw chaser streaking up the field once more.
Roger and Phillip zoomed in to join Bridget. "What are they doing?" asked Anna.
"Hawkshead Attacking Formation…" said Padma, not taking her eyes off the game. The chasers fly together – makes it easier to get the ball through a hoop."
"YES!" Mandy cheered as Roger tossed the Quaffle easily into the far left hoop. "Eighty more points, and we won't even have to worry about the snitch!"
Sure enough, the Ravenclaws scored again… and again…
"This is getting embarrassing," muttered Mandy as Phillip put yet another one past Wood, who looked ready to call it a day. Ophelia shot her a look.
"This is getting embarrassing," muttered Lee Jordan, his voice still magnified for everyone to hear. "It's as if they're using us for a practice match." Oliver Wood turned away from the goals to glare at his fellow Gryffindor. "GO Gryffindor!" shouted Lee.
But the Gryffindor team seemed to be falling apart. As soon as their chasers got the Quaffle, Sabrina or Silas would send a well-placed bludger their way. On the other end of the field, the Weasley twins were swinging away with a fury, but not hitting much of anything.
"Oh, nice try at a reverse pass there by Davies, but Dunstan didn't quite get her hands on it in time. The Quaffle is retrieved by Alicia Spinnet, who goes barreling down the field toward the goals… dodges a Rabnott bludger… passes off to Fawcett… McKinnion dives and JULIE FAWCETT SCORES! 40 to 120," he added as a sullen afterthought. "Anyway, great to see that her scoring abilities haven't gone rusty on the bench."
"GO JULIE!" screamed Ophelia, earning her several dirty looks from her housemates. The other girls looked at Ophelia, who covered her mouth and grinned.
At that moment, two streaking shapes at the far left of the pitch caught Anna's attention. The red player zoomed down the field, with the blue player right on her tail. The Gryffindor seeker dove. The Ravenclaw girls were on their feet, none of them knowing quite what to think.
Anna clapped her hands over her mouth as both players dived. Fifty feet from the ground, twenty… now they couldn't be any more than five feet from the pitch. Ophelia let out a gasp. But at that moment, Angelina pulled up, leaving Duncan Boothby in a difficult position. He was able to right his broom to keep from plummeting full force into the earth, but he did tumble off and go flying head over heels as the front end of his broom hit he ground. He pulled himself up, red faced, dusted himself off, and was up in the air again shortly. Meanwhile, Angelina had been scanning the air for the snitch, free from any interference.
"Boothby feels the fool about now, I reckon," said Lee Jordan, sounding as if he was trying hard not to laugh. "Excellent Wronski Feint by Johnson, best I've seen at Hogwarts. Not sure if it was intentional, but great fake."
Just then, a murmur ran through the crowd. Boothby had been rising slowly, but suddenly, he had taken off down the field like a maniac. Angelina turned a one-eighty in midair and barreled down the field after him. But she was too late… Duncan soared up into the air, his fist clinched tightly around the golden snitch, and a wide smile plastered across his face. His teammates flew in to hug him as Angelina sagged dejectedly on her broom.
"Boothby catches the snitch, the match is called. Ravenclaw wins, 270 to 40. Good game, Ravenclaw," Lee added, with an air of tragic but noble defeat.
Anna glanced over at Ophelia, who was hugging Lisa tightly and laughing, and smiled. Padma reached over them to throw her arms around Anna, and Mandy was hopping up and down, yelling, "We won! We WON! I can't believe it… we WON against Gryffindor!"
It was a wonderful hour to be a Ravenclaw, and the mood continued through the following week. Ravenclaw placed second in house points, and everyone's moods were lifted when Professor Dumbledore announced a few last minute points that changed the winner of the house cup to Gryffindor.
"After all, being third isn't too bad when you consider they knocked Slytherin out of place," mused Mandy over her helping of treacle tart.
"I still want to know what Dumbledore was going on about with Neville Longbottom," said Padma. "Who'd he stand up to? I suppose I'll have to ask Parvati."
"I wouldn't have suspected Ronald Weasley was so smart," said Ophelia, glancing over at the Gryffindor table. "I mean, we all know Hermione Granger's top of the year, and Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord… but chess is the most difficult game to play."
"And he's got nice freckles…" murmured Lisa. She looked down at her plate as the girls all turned to stare at her and blushed. "Oh, come off it…" she said. "We all know he'll end up with Hermione Granger anyway."
And then there was the final meeting of the year. The girls all cried a bit (though Padma blamed it on an errant eyelash), and promised to owl one another, and vowed not to remove their necklaces for one moment all summer. Anna smiled softly as her hand brushed her locket. There were so many questions she had, all unanswered. Perhaps next year…
But there was something she had to do before leaving. The day before they were all scheduled to leave on the Hogwarts express, Anna found Hagrid, on his way to Dumbledore's office. She stopped him, tugging on the giant's coat, and feeling very small and childish next to him.
"Hagrid – you won't forget to take care of Perseus, will you?"
The groundskeeper said nothing, but gave her a solemn wink before walking on.
Come Friday, their bags were packed and ready to go. Notes were passed out, stating that under-aged wizards were not allowed to use magic over the holiday. Mandy looked supremely disappointed. They sailed across the lake in the little boats again. Anna turned back sadly, looking at Hogwarts as she had seen it for the first time. Ophelia laid a hand on her shoulder and smiled.
"We'll be back before you know it."
Anna smiled back weakly. She hadn't mentioned her fear to any of the other girls. Would she be back? She had supposed all this year that Witt meant for her to stay in Diagon Alley. But what if she was to be sent back to the Snydley-Pinkenweiler's? Anna would have given anything to see Linnea again, but she didn't know if she could stand a summer in that house after a year here… in this wonderful, magical world. It would be like waking from a wonderful dream. Anna hugged Greymalkin's basket to her tightly.
All too soon, they reached the platform. It was a confused mess of first years and older students, who had obviously taken a different route to the station. Padma hoisted her trunk on end, and pushed it up the steps of the train with Mandy's help. Anna felt a knot rising in her throat. Lisa, who was carrying Isis's carrier under one arm, reached out and squeezed Anna's hand.
"You will write, won't you?"
Anna nodded, and opened her mouth to speak, but just then a familiar, authoritative tone caught her mid-stride.
"Are you ready, Miss Moon?"
Anna turned, not trusting her hearing. Her face lit up, and she dropped her bags as she ran to hug the thin, elderly lady standing at the far end of the platform.
"Witt!" she cried, burying her face in the witch's robes. "Oh, it's so good to see you."
"I'd imagine so by your reaction," she replied with a straight face. "I'd surmise you had an excellent year as well?"
"Oh, it's been glorious," breathed Anna. "And I have the best friends…" she stopped in the middle of her sentence. "Does this mean I should say goodbye to them now?"
Witt nodded. "I'll be waiting by the carriage." She gestured to a marvelous black contraption sitting down by the end of the track.
Anna made her way slowly back to the train, where her friends were waiting with curious looks on their face. "Who's that?"
"That's Witt," said Anna. "She's wonderful."
"Oh," said Lisa. "So does this mean…"
"This is it?" blurted out Mandy. "Oh, Anna…" she reached over and hugged her.
"I feel like I should be holding a gavel," said Padma morosely. "The meeting is now adjourned."
"Ah, but it will be picked up right where it was left off in September," said Ophelia. "Goodbye Anna."
The other girls chorused their goodbyes, and there were hugs, and tears all over again. The train's whistle sounded, and the four girls slowly made their way on to the train. The four other Ravenclaws leaned their heads out the window and waved until the train was a small speck in the distance. Anna sighed, and turned back to the carriage, where Witt was waiting with her luggage.
"Oh… thank you," said Anna when she noticed her trunk neatly propped up in the back compartment. Witt nodded.
"Step inside then."
"Where are we going?"
"Full of questions, aren't you? Very much like a Ravenclaw. We are returning to my home in Hogsmeade, where you will spend the summer."
Anna's eyes lit up at this. "Oh, Witt… thank you ever so much!"
Witt didn't respond, but Anna thought the old lady looked pleased as she turned to look out the window. After a moment, she spoke again.
"And yes, you may borrow my owl to mail your friends as soon as we reach the house. I expect you'll be very busy writing them this summer."
Anna grinned as she looked out the window and saw, far off in the distance, a red line chugging steadily through the hills. "Yes," she replied, almost to herself. "I certainly will be."
* * * *
Well, that's it – for this year at least. Many, many, many loose ends. I know it; I'm cruel. But if I ever get around to writing the rest of the story, things will be explained. I hope you enjoyed what is here! Thanks so much to those who reviewed over these past two years. You guys are what kept me going and made me finish. And most of all, thanks to J. K. Rowling, who created this wonderful world that we'd all like to live in, even if we are only able to through stories.
