Weekend Treat
Ch 6
Aug 20
Saturday final came to the over taxed team. Niki and Matt were up with the crack of dawn. Their biological clocks have now set to their new schedule. Grabbing showers then heading down to the breakfast table, they manages to surprise Sirius with their early arrival.
"Why are you guys still up. I thought that you would be still sleeping on your day off", his gruff demeanor coming through as he talks. "I wasn't expecting you. Lupin has gone out to prepare your 'treat'." Moving his fingers as he made the quote symbol as he said 'treat'.
"So what is our treat to be?" asked Matt, very interested in the subject at hand.
"I ain't telling you", Sirius said as he got up from the table and left the room, changing into his familiar big black dog form
"What do you think he mean by prepare Matt." inquired Niki
"I don't know but it will probably be interesting." replied Matt in a monotone voice that reminder her of someone else.
Matt was thinking to himself.
I wonder when I will get a chance to go to Hogwarts to see what will work and what wont work. How could he plan anything if he couldn't get an idea of the lay out and such. Now he knew why he couldn't go back to see her but how did they expect them to do anything as a team if they were stuck inside class rooms all day , he hadn't said no to the mission and now was stuck with his decision . they should be able at least to keep an eye on this one boy. Well with the treat being today maybe I can ask Lupin if I can go experiment tomorrow.
Coming out of his musing to eat the eggs that had just showed up in front of him. Matt notice Niki was trying to eat, read, and take notes all at the same time. The cover was for transfiguration. Maybe he should brush up on his charm work after breakfast. To no ones surprise herbology was one subject where Niki excelled but the concept of transfiguration totally puzzled her. At that time Savanna and Amy entered the room.
"So what's for breakfast?" asked Savanna , gliding into her seat.
"Eggs over easy , bacon and toast" said Matt.
"I don't like mine over easy , can I have them scrambled please" said Amy to no one in particular , a few minutes later a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon appeared before her. "Cool , I could get to like this"
"So do we have any idea what the treat is for today?" Savanna said .
Around a piece of toast Niki replied "It's being prepared , but other then that you guess is as good as mine" Almost pitching the text book , slamming it against the table and pushing her plate aside to rest her head on the table muttering things like" Okay I am lost , my head hurts and I will never get this"
Amy rubs her back telling her that she'll help her with it later today or tomorrow.
Matt pipes up "Good , then Savanna can you help me with my charms work"
"Sure , why don't you ask Trel , she seems to be doing really well in her studies"
With breakfast over they decided to go ahead and help each other with their homework since they had heard nothing from Lupin about their treat. At 11 am Jason finally meanders downstairs , as he reaches the bottom of the stairs he has to duck as an owl swoops in past his forehead , flies into the kitchen to drop it's letter and then swoops back out.
Jason followed it to the kitchen and sits down at the breakfast table , his food appears and while he is eating it he notices the letter sitting there. Picking it up and looking it over but other then Lupin's name there was nothing adorning it at all and after hearing the front door open he drops it back to the table.
Turning back to his eggs and bacon he pretends like he had just sat down to eat when Lupin walks into the room. "The others said a letter had been delivered" Lupin questioned and spotting it a minute later.
Jason pointed it out with his knife as his fork stuffed another piece of bacon into his mouth.
"I do like to see a growing boy with a good appetite" he commented as he leaned forward to retrieve the discarded letter from the table. "Well as soon as Trel is up and out of bed we'll be off"
Raising an eye brow , thinking this would be the perfect chance. Jason hurried to finish his breakfast while Lupin read the letter he grabbed an empty glass and left the room to go wake sleeping beauty , his way.
About ten minutes later the others in the living room could hear "I'm gonna kill you Jason" as Jason thundered down the stairs , through the house and out the door , calling back "Trel's up , we're leaving"
A few minutes later Trel came down the stairs after Jason , following him all the way outside. Lupin sticking his head out of the kitchen asked if that was Trel he had just heard. "Good , then we can get going" he added when he got an answer.
The four of them quietly followed the previous two outside with Lupin trailing outside , not exactly sure what Jason had done to incite Trel's rage and even less sure that they really wanted to find out either they found Trel standing on the lawn , looking back and forth trying to figure out which way Jason had gone.
Lupin noticing that Trel was wearing no shoes or socks sent her back inside to finish getting dressed so they could leave and they all heard her mumbling "I'm going to get him , I'll get him so badly that there will be no recovering from it"
After Trel left Jason jumped down from the tree he had hid in. "I see what you mean about being cranky to wake up girls" he said with an innocent smile on his face.
Lupin started lecturing Jason on inappropriate behavior while Trel returns to the group having finally gotten fully dressed and armed with her wand which had been earlier discarded.
"Your wand won't be necessary for this trip Trel" Lupin added after his speech to Jason.
"You'll never know when you'll need it" replied Trel quickly , not wanting to be un-armed again today'
"So where are we going anyway?" asked Amy , wanting to change the subject.
"Oh well , we're going to Hogwarts , and the rest of your surprise you are going to have to wait for" was Lupin's reply.
After about a 35 minute walk the group arrived in front of the big old castle with it's four turrets and huge walls which was soon to be a daily sight , the big lake off to the side that had a purple tentacle protruding from it. Hagrid's shack was in the distance on the edge of a gloomy forest.
"That is the forbidden forest" Lupin lectured after having taken note to where the group was now looking.
"Can we make a tree fort?" Trel asked , knowing full well that they were not allowed to enter it but was ignored by Lupin.
Lupin leads the group up to the castle doors , walking them inside and down the hallway , up another set of stairs , down another hallway and stopping before a Gargoyle statue. "Peppermint Imps" announced Lupin to the grinning mass of stone , the gargoyle jumped up and moved aside to let the group pass into the moving glittering shinning stair case.
They came up to the door of Dumbledore's office even Matt was impressed by the sheer magnitude of the castle let alone just the one stair case. Lupin rapped on the door and they could hear Dumbledore tell them to come in from the other side.
As the seven entered the room they could see old witches and wizards sleeping in their frames , some of which were not all that quiet in doing so.
"Oh good , now since you guys are exchange students and not new students we decided that doing your sorting now would be beneficial to all , one at a time please sit on the chair so we can see which house would benefit you most"
Amy was the first one up , not that any could have beat her if they'd tried. She sat on the stool and the Sorting Hat was placed on her head , not even a second later it yelled out Gryffindor , Amy got up and moved to the side as Savanna took her place.
Again not even a second latter Gryffindor was again shouted out. Jason was the next one but it only took a moment to decide that Gryffindor was the house for him. Matt was next to step up to the plate , sitting down to have the ragged hat dropped to his head only to get the same response as the others had.
Niki looked at Trel and sighed as she walked up and sat on the chair , the hat took a few minutes but again Gryffindor was what it said. Now it was Trels turn , she sat on the chair and the hat prominently resounded Gryffindor.
"Now isn't that interesting" said Lupin.
"Not necessarily so with the courage that these young ones have shown on their adventures" countered Dumbledore as he placed the hat back up on it's honored spot. "I hope you enjoy the rest of your afternoon , oh and Lupin , don't forget to show them their table on the way out"
The group then returned down the hallway and followed their previous path to the front doors , heading off of the main entrance to the great hall , Lupin showed them the four tables that belonged to the four houses , also showing them which belonged to Gryffindor in the doing.
Upon leaving the great hall they meet Snape lecturing Peeves the poltergeist about staying out of his office.
The group looks stunned at seeing the translucent floating man wearing a red vest.
"Is that a ... ghost?" asked Niki incredulously and drawing Peeves attention.
"Ickle newbees" Peeves said , drawing Snapes attention away from him to beat a hasty retreat.
"So these must be the new exchange students that Dumbledore mentioned , I hope in your last school they had an adequate potions teacher so you will not be behind in my class." as he swept back down to the dungeon.
Amy , not so confident now about telling Snape off. "He's meaner looking" she mutters to herself as she watched him retreat back to the depths from which he came.
"No that was not a ghost , that was a poltergeist , there are a lot of ghosts here so get use to it real quick , we're suppose to act like we come from a school like this." said Savanna.
Going back outside into the warming rays of the sun they could see Hagrid crossing the grounds with what looked to be some sort of dog.
Walking around the castle to the back it seemed to be smaller on the outside then on the inside.
Trel looked down to see what time it was, her watch was dead , no lights , no numbers ... it just seemed to have stopped working. Assuming the battery had finally died this put her in a very unpleasant mood.
They came to a giant sized field with three large posts of different heights and different sized hoops on them at each end of the field.
"We're gonna learn to fly!" exclaimed Jason eagerly
~~~~oO{@}Oo~~~~
"Hope you guys like it."
But wait! What this, more surprises for our heroes. Stay tuned, same bat time, same bat channel.