Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, so brilliantly created by
J.K. Rowling. Most situations are based on those created by J.K. Rowling.
Note: Apologies again on the length between updates.... As much as I would love to lose myself in the world of Harry Potter fan fiction, real life just takes over sometimes. I'm not crazy about this chapter... I don't think I can write adventure very well.
Chapter Fifteen: An Adventure at Hogwarts
Just as the quickly as the summer months died away, so did the first term at Hogwarts. Soon Emma, now a third year and James, a fifth, found themselves home from school and back at the Burrow for another Weasley Christmas celebration. Double excitement was in the air, as the New Year would bring the eleventh birthdays of Lily and Olivia, and they were eagerly anticipating the arrival of their own Hogwarts letters so they could join their big brother and sister, respectively, at the school.
Though Emma dreaded the thought that her little sister would soon invade the small private school world she had created for herself, she knew she still had many months until it happened. She intended to make every moment count during the last couple of months of the school year, and she enlisted James' help. "We have to have an adventure," she told him one day before term ended. She had seated him, Aidan, Cornelia and a group of her cousins down in the common room. "We can't just sit around. We've all heard tons of stories of our mums and dads here, and they were always doing something really cool."
"That's true," Stacey said, from the middle of a couch. "But what can we do? Nothing very adventurous really happens around here."
It had puzzled Emma as well. It was true. It DID seem as though everything exciting had happened when her parents were at Hogwarts. She decided to make it her mission – aside from getting top grades – to find SOMETHING that could turn itself into an adventure. She didn't realize it would fall so easily into her hands.
* * *
Emma had been "adventure-hunting" for two weeks when Christmas break came along, and she was a little frustrated that she had found nothing remotely interesting. She decided to have fun on Christmas though, and not worry about it, though she knew in the back of her mind that the quest was far from over.
After a wonderful Christmas feast, the adults of the Weasley family stayed at the dinner table, talking and laughing, while the children did the same in the next room. Emma, James, and Stacey were heading back and forth between the kitchen and the living room, taking various sweets to the other children, when they overheard their parents in deep conversation.
"The kids'll be really excited, when they find out," said Harry, in an explanatory voice. "McGonagall's been working on this for quite a while now."
"And they have no idea?" Hermione asked. "At all?"
"Not that we know of," said Harry. "Which is good, because we really want to surprise them this year."
"Surprise us?" Stacey asked, though low so none of the adults could hear her. "I wonder what he's talking about."
Emma motioned her cousin to be quiet, and the three continued to listen. However, Harry had obviously said the more interesting parts BEFORE the kids entered the room, and they never got to find out what the secret at Hogwarts was going to be.
"What could it be?" Stacey asked as they gathered out of the room and could speak in normal tones.
"Maybe it's the Tri-Wizard Tournament!" James exclaimed, excited. "When my dad was a fourth year, everyone was being really secretive about something happening at Hogwarts, and that's what it was."
Emma shook her head. "I don't think so," she said. "They would need the whole school year for that." She looked at her cousins with a serious face. "I think we have an adventure."
* * *
The wait to return to Hogwarts seemed agonizing. In the meantime, James had been commissioned to see if Harry had any information lying around the house, but each time he looked, his hands came up empty. Finally, they headed back to school.
Emma wasted no time. She informed Cornelia of their plan the moment she saw her on the Hogwarts Express. "How are we going to get information?" she asked.
"James will help," said Emma, "cause he has all this cool old stuff that his dad gave him. I think if we can just get into Uncle Harry's office we should be able to find some information."
"I don't know, Em," said Cornelia. "That sounds pretty risky."
"That's the point," Emma responded. "Are you with us?"
"Yeah, sure," said Cornelia, but she seemed reluctant. Still, she was not going to miss out on the fun that all her friends were about to have. "When does this start?"
"Tomorrow night," said Emma. "All the teachers will be around tonight, since it's the opening feast. Tomorrow we can wander."
"And what about Filch?" Cornelia asked.
"You know his hearing's getting really bad," said Emma. "If we're quiet, he probably won't hear us at all." She looked at the group until they nodded. "So, tomorrow then?"
"Tomorrow," said Stacey, and the rest of the group agreed.
* * *
The next day seemed to drag on forever. With classes starting, the children had plenty to do, but nothing they wanted to do. Finally, they were all situated in the common room, waiting for the last of the straggling members of Gryffindor to head upstairs to bed. It seemed that everyone wanted to stay up late though, and it was well past midnight when the group finally sat around the table looking at James' Maurader's Map.
"Okay, Filch is near the entrance," said James, pointing to the small dot. "And it doesn't seem as though anyone else is around."
"Then it's perfect," said Emma. "Your dad's office is nowhere near the entrance hall."
James now looked skeptical. "Are you sure we have to start in my dad's office?" he asked.
Emma nodded seriously. "He seems to be the one with the plans," said Emma, "even though he mentioned McGonagall, I think your dad knows much more than we heard."
"I think she's right," said Stacey from her place on the couch. "Plus we know your dad's never here at night."
"Not this late," Emma added.
James seemed to brighten up. "Okay," he said. "But if we get caught in there, I'm telling him it was all YOUR idea."
"Fine," said Emma calmly, and she took one quick glance around at James, Aidan, Stacey, Cornelia and some of her other cousins. "Which ones of us are going to go?"
"I thought we were all going," Aidan said.
"Too many people," James said simply, to which Emma nodded in agreement.
"Then how is this an adventure?" Aidan asked. "If aren't all going to have it?" James and Emma had to admit that he had a point.
"I suppose there could be a way for everyone to be involved somehow," Emma said, thinking. "We COULD use some lookouts. You never know."
"Maybe we can have a chain of people," said Stacey, "to warn the ones that are near the office if anyone is coming."
"Good idea," said James. "You have those Reversible Extendable Ears your dad gave you right?" Stacey nodded, and excused herself to run up to the dorms. Fred and George had long before created Extendable Ears with a reverse effect, so that the person using them could talk to someone else a great distance away. They had modeled them after seeing a group of muggle children playing "fort" and using cups and strings to talk to each other.
Stacey returned moments later and handed the device to James. "Okay, who's going to actually go into the office?" he now asked the group. Emma raised her hand.
"I am!" she exclaimed eagerly. "This whole thing was my idea!"
"I will too," said James. "It is MY dad's office, after all."
In the end, it was decided that James, Emma, Aidan and Cornelia would be the ones to head into Harry's office. James knew the office the best, and the whole idea HAD been Emma's in the first place, and Aidan and Cornelia were their right hands, respectively. Stacey knew how to work the Reversible Extendable Ears (which they referred to now as REE's) the best, so she would be the head of what they were now calling the command post. She would stand at the end of the hallway leading to the Gryffindor portrait hole. The rest of the group would be placed somewhere along the line, each with their own REE's.
"Let's go," said James when everyone was ready, and they headed for the portrait hole and made their way down the hall.
"We're not all going to fit under the invisibility cloak," James said to Emma, Aidan and Cornelia, "so we're going to have to be extra careful not to get caught."
"You have that map?" Aidan asked his friend. James pulled it from his pocket and showed it to the group. They surveyed it.
"Filch is occupied elsewhere," Cornelia said, pointing to the moving Filch dot, which seemed to be near the entrance to the kitchens.
"Then now's our chance," said Emma, and the four made their way down the hall and through the school on their way to Harry's office.
* * *
When they were standing outside of Harry's office, James began to have second thoughts. "I don't know about this," he said to the others. "I mean, this is my dad's office."
"Think about it," Emma said. "He used to have adventures here all the time. He'd probably be PROUD of you for this."
"Just the same," James said, "YOU open the door."
Emma shrugged and pointed her wand at the keyhole on Harry's office door. "Alohamora!" she called out sharply, and they heard the lock click open. The four children poked their heads in, as an extra precaution, before heading into the room.
"Light your wands," said Emma. "It's better if the lights stay off." The four recited the charm quickly, igniting the ends of their wands, and then headed inside.
They had been in this office many times before, invited in by Harry for snacks or just to have a chat, so they knew the layout well. They barely glanced at the pictures Harry kept on his desk of his family, nor at the Quidditch posters he had hanging on the walls. They also avoided looking at the various creatures Harry kept in the office as part of his Dark Arts curriculum. They moved around the room until Cornelia voiced the one thing they had all started to wonder.
"What exactly are we looking for?"
Emma, James and Aidan stopped what they were doing and thought. "A piece of parchment, maybe," said Emma. "A plan of some kind?"
"You don't think it's one of these, do you?" Aidan asked, peering into a tank.
"No," said James, "I don't see anything new in here, as far as Dark Arts stuff. It must not be related to it."
"Either that, or it's too big to fit in this office," Cornelia said, to which the other four stopped.
"Do you think it could be some big creature?" Emma asked.
"I don't know," said Harry. "Hagrid takes care of the creatures, mostly. I don't think that's it."
"But Cornelia has a point," said Emma. "What if whatever we're looking for is too big to fit in here?"
"I still think there must be something in writing," said James.
"Look on the desk then," said Aidan, which they had yet to do. James moved towards his father's desk and began rummaging through the small piles of paper that were there.
"These are all essays," he said, with a frown.
"What about the drawers?" Emma said, as she was opening one. She had planned to sift through the papers in there, but something on the top caught her eye. A simple piece of parchment that said, "Delivery January 8th."
"Look at this!" she exclaimed. "Something's being delivered here tomorrow."
The other three came over and looked at the paper as well, which Emma now turned over in her hands, looking for more writing, but there were only the few short words.
"That's my dad's handwriting though," James confirmed.
"It's a clue, isn't it?" Cornelia asked.
"Of course," said Emma, and she pocketed the piece of parchment.
"What are you doing?" Aidan asked.
"We need this with us," said Emma.
"But we can't take anything," said Aidan. "Then someone will know we were in here."
"You're right," said Emma, feeling sheepish that she had almost forgotten a very important detail of their adventure.
"Put it back," said Cornelia. "Surely we can remember what it says."
Emma nodded and opened the drawer. As she was placing the piece of parchment back inside, the room was suddenly bathed in light. The four children jumped, and looked up. In the doorway was Harry.
"Dad!" James exclaimed suddenly, not sure how to read the expression on his father's face. "We were just......." But words escaped the young man, and he could not think of a viable reason for being in his father's office after midnight.
"What's that you have, Emma?" Harry asked, and Emma blushed and handed the paper to her uncle. Harry opened it up and read it, and then smiled at the children standing in front of him. Though his smile was not menacing at all, it seemed to invoke more fear in the children than had he frowned at them.
"Uncle Harry?" Emma asked tentatively. "Is something...... funny?"
Harry continued to smile as he now looked up from the parchment. "Not funny," he said. "Just slightly amusing."
"What is?" James asked, a little annoyed now. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"I suppose I should ask you that," he said to the children, though again they could not detect anger in his voice. "Would one of you care to offer an explanation?"
"Well," Emma began, "it's my fault, really. I said to everyone that we needed to have an adventure, and then we heard you talking to mum and dad on Christmas about something happening at Hogwarts, and we just got really curious. I thought it would be a perfect adventure, to try and figure out what was going to happen. I'm sorry, Uncle Harry."
"Have a seat," he said to the children, and he conjured chairs for all of them, and then took a seat at his own desk, placing the sheet of parchment on the desk. "I see that I've finally rubbed off on all of you. Out of bed at late hours, storming the halls when you shouldn't be. To say I'm disappointed in you would make me a hypocrite."
"So you're not mad?" Emma asked, surprised.
"Mad?" Harry asked. "No."
"So will you tell us what's going to happen?" James asked, feeling suddenly much better.
Harry now smiled again, and gestured for the four children to lean in so he could tell them secretly. "No," he said simply.
"WHAT?!" all four children exclaimed involuntarily, and they sat back.
"Why not?" came Aidan's voice.
Harry laughed a little. "Despite the fact that, when I was your age, I relished in trying to find out information I didn't need to have, and that I was always roaming the halls at night, I can't let this incident go unpunished."
"Dad!" James exclaimed. "You said you weren't mad!"
"I know I did," said Harry, for he was in fact the furthest thing from mad. In fact, inside he felt a little glimmer of pride. "And I'm not mad. However, I'm an adult now, and a teacher here, and as such I have certain responsibilities."
"Just don't tell anyone we were here," James suggested hopefully.
"I can't do that," said Harry. "However, I am not going to give you a detention. I am not going to take away any House points. I am simply going to make you wait until tomorrow night."
"What's tomorrow night?" Emma asked.
"Tomorrow night at dinner, the entire school will find out the secret you want to know," said Harry. "I think a fitting punishment for you all is to have to wait, just like everybody else."
"Dad!" James exclaimed again.
"James, it could be worse," said Emma. "He could tell your mum, or my mum what we did."
"You won't, will you?" James asked, imagining the Howler that he might get in the morning.
Harry smiled and nodded his head. "Your secret is safe with me. And," he said, putting the parchment back into his desk, "so is mine." He stood. "All right, off to bed with you. I'll walk you there, in case Filch is lurking about."
The children stood and began to walk down the hall with Harry, headed back to Gryffindor tower. James walked beside his father. "You really can't tell me?" he asked. Harry simply shook his head.
"What are you doing here tonight anyway?" James now asked.
"Just some last minute preparation that I needed to do for tomorrow," Harry said, and they had reached Gryffindor Tower. The children scrambled in, and Harry headed home.
* * *
The children woke the next morning tired and disappointed that their adventure had not gone the way they planned. "Just be glad we're not in detention," said Cornelia, as they sat at breakfast.
"Uncle Harry would never put us in detention," said Emma.
"Even so," said Cornelia. "If that had been Filch, we'd surely be expelled."
"Just be glad it wasn't Filch that caught us then," was Emma's reply. She looked over at the staff table. "Ugh! I wish they would tell us what the big surprise is all ready! I can't believe we have to wait for dinner!"
Though once again the day seemed to drag slowly by, at some point it did manage to come to an end. At the end of the day, Emma, Cornelia, Aidan and James found themselves seated at dinner, awaiting the announcement. It came before dinner began.
"Pardon me, students," said Professor McGonagall, standing up and addressing the crowd. "I know we don't generally interrupt your meal with announcements, but tonight we have something very special to tell all of you." The students in the Great Hall turned their heads, interested, to the Headmistress.
Professor McGonagall smiled at them. "As you all know, Hogwarts supports Quidditch very much, and is incredibly proud of their players, who all show such wonderful promise. As a sort of thank you to all of you, and to encourage flying among our other students, we would like to announce that Hogwarts had bought a new school set of broomsticks."
"THAT'S the announcement?" Emma asked, looked disappointed. "New broomsticks?"
"Not just any broomstick, mind you," continued Professor McGonagall. "We have spared no expense, and have managed to get a new set of Firebolt 500's!" The students in the Great Hall cheered, knowing that the new broomsticks would be one hundred times better than the battered and beaten ones the school had been holding onto for years.
Professor McGonagall continued. "In that same vein, I would also like to say that we are also getting a brand new Quidditch field AND equipment!" The students cheered again. Professor McGonagall waited until the cheering died down, and then invited everyone to eat the food that appeared on the tables.
"That's what we were trying to find out?" Cornelia now asked.
"I think it's great!" said James, still an avid Quidditch player.
"Yeah!" Aidan agreed.
"It's NICE," said Emma, "but it's not what I thought." She had never tried out for the Gryffindor team, despite the fact that she liked to play the game. "I mean, it IS good that we'll have the new broomsticks and the new field."
Despite the fact that the announcement was less than what they had expected and hoped for, the children were pleased that they had finally had an adventure at Hogwarts. They spent the rest of the evening listening to James and Aidan discuss Quidditch strategies, and how the new brooms would be a major asset to their team.
Note: Apologies again on the length between updates.... As much as I would love to lose myself in the world of Harry Potter fan fiction, real life just takes over sometimes. I'm not crazy about this chapter... I don't think I can write adventure very well.
Chapter Fifteen: An Adventure at Hogwarts
Just as the quickly as the summer months died away, so did the first term at Hogwarts. Soon Emma, now a third year and James, a fifth, found themselves home from school and back at the Burrow for another Weasley Christmas celebration. Double excitement was in the air, as the New Year would bring the eleventh birthdays of Lily and Olivia, and they were eagerly anticipating the arrival of their own Hogwarts letters so they could join their big brother and sister, respectively, at the school.
Though Emma dreaded the thought that her little sister would soon invade the small private school world she had created for herself, she knew she still had many months until it happened. She intended to make every moment count during the last couple of months of the school year, and she enlisted James' help. "We have to have an adventure," she told him one day before term ended. She had seated him, Aidan, Cornelia and a group of her cousins down in the common room. "We can't just sit around. We've all heard tons of stories of our mums and dads here, and they were always doing something really cool."
"That's true," Stacey said, from the middle of a couch. "But what can we do? Nothing very adventurous really happens around here."
It had puzzled Emma as well. It was true. It DID seem as though everything exciting had happened when her parents were at Hogwarts. She decided to make it her mission – aside from getting top grades – to find SOMETHING that could turn itself into an adventure. She didn't realize it would fall so easily into her hands.
* * *
Emma had been "adventure-hunting" for two weeks when Christmas break came along, and she was a little frustrated that she had found nothing remotely interesting. She decided to have fun on Christmas though, and not worry about it, though she knew in the back of her mind that the quest was far from over.
After a wonderful Christmas feast, the adults of the Weasley family stayed at the dinner table, talking and laughing, while the children did the same in the next room. Emma, James, and Stacey were heading back and forth between the kitchen and the living room, taking various sweets to the other children, when they overheard their parents in deep conversation.
"The kids'll be really excited, when they find out," said Harry, in an explanatory voice. "McGonagall's been working on this for quite a while now."
"And they have no idea?" Hermione asked. "At all?"
"Not that we know of," said Harry. "Which is good, because we really want to surprise them this year."
"Surprise us?" Stacey asked, though low so none of the adults could hear her. "I wonder what he's talking about."
Emma motioned her cousin to be quiet, and the three continued to listen. However, Harry had obviously said the more interesting parts BEFORE the kids entered the room, and they never got to find out what the secret at Hogwarts was going to be.
"What could it be?" Stacey asked as they gathered out of the room and could speak in normal tones.
"Maybe it's the Tri-Wizard Tournament!" James exclaimed, excited. "When my dad was a fourth year, everyone was being really secretive about something happening at Hogwarts, and that's what it was."
Emma shook her head. "I don't think so," she said. "They would need the whole school year for that." She looked at her cousins with a serious face. "I think we have an adventure."
* * *
The wait to return to Hogwarts seemed agonizing. In the meantime, James had been commissioned to see if Harry had any information lying around the house, but each time he looked, his hands came up empty. Finally, they headed back to school.
Emma wasted no time. She informed Cornelia of their plan the moment she saw her on the Hogwarts Express. "How are we going to get information?" she asked.
"James will help," said Emma, "cause he has all this cool old stuff that his dad gave him. I think if we can just get into Uncle Harry's office we should be able to find some information."
"I don't know, Em," said Cornelia. "That sounds pretty risky."
"That's the point," Emma responded. "Are you with us?"
"Yeah, sure," said Cornelia, but she seemed reluctant. Still, she was not going to miss out on the fun that all her friends were about to have. "When does this start?"
"Tomorrow night," said Emma. "All the teachers will be around tonight, since it's the opening feast. Tomorrow we can wander."
"And what about Filch?" Cornelia asked.
"You know his hearing's getting really bad," said Emma. "If we're quiet, he probably won't hear us at all." She looked at the group until they nodded. "So, tomorrow then?"
"Tomorrow," said Stacey, and the rest of the group agreed.
* * *
The next day seemed to drag on forever. With classes starting, the children had plenty to do, but nothing they wanted to do. Finally, they were all situated in the common room, waiting for the last of the straggling members of Gryffindor to head upstairs to bed. It seemed that everyone wanted to stay up late though, and it was well past midnight when the group finally sat around the table looking at James' Maurader's Map.
"Okay, Filch is near the entrance," said James, pointing to the small dot. "And it doesn't seem as though anyone else is around."
"Then it's perfect," said Emma. "Your dad's office is nowhere near the entrance hall."
James now looked skeptical. "Are you sure we have to start in my dad's office?" he asked.
Emma nodded seriously. "He seems to be the one with the plans," said Emma, "even though he mentioned McGonagall, I think your dad knows much more than we heard."
"I think she's right," said Stacey from her place on the couch. "Plus we know your dad's never here at night."
"Not this late," Emma added.
James seemed to brighten up. "Okay," he said. "But if we get caught in there, I'm telling him it was all YOUR idea."
"Fine," said Emma calmly, and she took one quick glance around at James, Aidan, Stacey, Cornelia and some of her other cousins. "Which ones of us are going to go?"
"I thought we were all going," Aidan said.
"Too many people," James said simply, to which Emma nodded in agreement.
"Then how is this an adventure?" Aidan asked. "If aren't all going to have it?" James and Emma had to admit that he had a point.
"I suppose there could be a way for everyone to be involved somehow," Emma said, thinking. "We COULD use some lookouts. You never know."
"Maybe we can have a chain of people," said Stacey, "to warn the ones that are near the office if anyone is coming."
"Good idea," said James. "You have those Reversible Extendable Ears your dad gave you right?" Stacey nodded, and excused herself to run up to the dorms. Fred and George had long before created Extendable Ears with a reverse effect, so that the person using them could talk to someone else a great distance away. They had modeled them after seeing a group of muggle children playing "fort" and using cups and strings to talk to each other.
Stacey returned moments later and handed the device to James. "Okay, who's going to actually go into the office?" he now asked the group. Emma raised her hand.
"I am!" she exclaimed eagerly. "This whole thing was my idea!"
"I will too," said James. "It is MY dad's office, after all."
In the end, it was decided that James, Emma, Aidan and Cornelia would be the ones to head into Harry's office. James knew the office the best, and the whole idea HAD been Emma's in the first place, and Aidan and Cornelia were their right hands, respectively. Stacey knew how to work the Reversible Extendable Ears (which they referred to now as REE's) the best, so she would be the head of what they were now calling the command post. She would stand at the end of the hallway leading to the Gryffindor portrait hole. The rest of the group would be placed somewhere along the line, each with their own REE's.
"Let's go," said James when everyone was ready, and they headed for the portrait hole and made their way down the hall.
"We're not all going to fit under the invisibility cloak," James said to Emma, Aidan and Cornelia, "so we're going to have to be extra careful not to get caught."
"You have that map?" Aidan asked his friend. James pulled it from his pocket and showed it to the group. They surveyed it.
"Filch is occupied elsewhere," Cornelia said, pointing to the moving Filch dot, which seemed to be near the entrance to the kitchens.
"Then now's our chance," said Emma, and the four made their way down the hall and through the school on their way to Harry's office.
* * *
When they were standing outside of Harry's office, James began to have second thoughts. "I don't know about this," he said to the others. "I mean, this is my dad's office."
"Think about it," Emma said. "He used to have adventures here all the time. He'd probably be PROUD of you for this."
"Just the same," James said, "YOU open the door."
Emma shrugged and pointed her wand at the keyhole on Harry's office door. "Alohamora!" she called out sharply, and they heard the lock click open. The four children poked their heads in, as an extra precaution, before heading into the room.
"Light your wands," said Emma. "It's better if the lights stay off." The four recited the charm quickly, igniting the ends of their wands, and then headed inside.
They had been in this office many times before, invited in by Harry for snacks or just to have a chat, so they knew the layout well. They barely glanced at the pictures Harry kept on his desk of his family, nor at the Quidditch posters he had hanging on the walls. They also avoided looking at the various creatures Harry kept in the office as part of his Dark Arts curriculum. They moved around the room until Cornelia voiced the one thing they had all started to wonder.
"What exactly are we looking for?"
Emma, James and Aidan stopped what they were doing and thought. "A piece of parchment, maybe," said Emma. "A plan of some kind?"
"You don't think it's one of these, do you?" Aidan asked, peering into a tank.
"No," said James, "I don't see anything new in here, as far as Dark Arts stuff. It must not be related to it."
"Either that, or it's too big to fit in this office," Cornelia said, to which the other four stopped.
"Do you think it could be some big creature?" Emma asked.
"I don't know," said Harry. "Hagrid takes care of the creatures, mostly. I don't think that's it."
"But Cornelia has a point," said Emma. "What if whatever we're looking for is too big to fit in here?"
"I still think there must be something in writing," said James.
"Look on the desk then," said Aidan, which they had yet to do. James moved towards his father's desk and began rummaging through the small piles of paper that were there.
"These are all essays," he said, with a frown.
"What about the drawers?" Emma said, as she was opening one. She had planned to sift through the papers in there, but something on the top caught her eye. A simple piece of parchment that said, "Delivery January 8th."
"Look at this!" she exclaimed. "Something's being delivered here tomorrow."
The other three came over and looked at the paper as well, which Emma now turned over in her hands, looking for more writing, but there were only the few short words.
"That's my dad's handwriting though," James confirmed.
"It's a clue, isn't it?" Cornelia asked.
"Of course," said Emma, and she pocketed the piece of parchment.
"What are you doing?" Aidan asked.
"We need this with us," said Emma.
"But we can't take anything," said Aidan. "Then someone will know we were in here."
"You're right," said Emma, feeling sheepish that she had almost forgotten a very important detail of their adventure.
"Put it back," said Cornelia. "Surely we can remember what it says."
Emma nodded and opened the drawer. As she was placing the piece of parchment back inside, the room was suddenly bathed in light. The four children jumped, and looked up. In the doorway was Harry.
"Dad!" James exclaimed suddenly, not sure how to read the expression on his father's face. "We were just......." But words escaped the young man, and he could not think of a viable reason for being in his father's office after midnight.
"What's that you have, Emma?" Harry asked, and Emma blushed and handed the paper to her uncle. Harry opened it up and read it, and then smiled at the children standing in front of him. Though his smile was not menacing at all, it seemed to invoke more fear in the children than had he frowned at them.
"Uncle Harry?" Emma asked tentatively. "Is something...... funny?"
Harry continued to smile as he now looked up from the parchment. "Not funny," he said. "Just slightly amusing."
"What is?" James asked, a little annoyed now. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"I suppose I should ask you that," he said to the children, though again they could not detect anger in his voice. "Would one of you care to offer an explanation?"
"Well," Emma began, "it's my fault, really. I said to everyone that we needed to have an adventure, and then we heard you talking to mum and dad on Christmas about something happening at Hogwarts, and we just got really curious. I thought it would be a perfect adventure, to try and figure out what was going to happen. I'm sorry, Uncle Harry."
"Have a seat," he said to the children, and he conjured chairs for all of them, and then took a seat at his own desk, placing the sheet of parchment on the desk. "I see that I've finally rubbed off on all of you. Out of bed at late hours, storming the halls when you shouldn't be. To say I'm disappointed in you would make me a hypocrite."
"So you're not mad?" Emma asked, surprised.
"Mad?" Harry asked. "No."
"So will you tell us what's going to happen?" James asked, feeling suddenly much better.
Harry now smiled again, and gestured for the four children to lean in so he could tell them secretly. "No," he said simply.
"WHAT?!" all four children exclaimed involuntarily, and they sat back.
"Why not?" came Aidan's voice.
Harry laughed a little. "Despite the fact that, when I was your age, I relished in trying to find out information I didn't need to have, and that I was always roaming the halls at night, I can't let this incident go unpunished."
"Dad!" James exclaimed. "You said you weren't mad!"
"I know I did," said Harry, for he was in fact the furthest thing from mad. In fact, inside he felt a little glimmer of pride. "And I'm not mad. However, I'm an adult now, and a teacher here, and as such I have certain responsibilities."
"Just don't tell anyone we were here," James suggested hopefully.
"I can't do that," said Harry. "However, I am not going to give you a detention. I am not going to take away any House points. I am simply going to make you wait until tomorrow night."
"What's tomorrow night?" Emma asked.
"Tomorrow night at dinner, the entire school will find out the secret you want to know," said Harry. "I think a fitting punishment for you all is to have to wait, just like everybody else."
"Dad!" James exclaimed again.
"James, it could be worse," said Emma. "He could tell your mum, or my mum what we did."
"You won't, will you?" James asked, imagining the Howler that he might get in the morning.
Harry smiled and nodded his head. "Your secret is safe with me. And," he said, putting the parchment back into his desk, "so is mine." He stood. "All right, off to bed with you. I'll walk you there, in case Filch is lurking about."
The children stood and began to walk down the hall with Harry, headed back to Gryffindor tower. James walked beside his father. "You really can't tell me?" he asked. Harry simply shook his head.
"What are you doing here tonight anyway?" James now asked.
"Just some last minute preparation that I needed to do for tomorrow," Harry said, and they had reached Gryffindor Tower. The children scrambled in, and Harry headed home.
* * *
The children woke the next morning tired and disappointed that their adventure had not gone the way they planned. "Just be glad we're not in detention," said Cornelia, as they sat at breakfast.
"Uncle Harry would never put us in detention," said Emma.
"Even so," said Cornelia. "If that had been Filch, we'd surely be expelled."
"Just be glad it wasn't Filch that caught us then," was Emma's reply. She looked over at the staff table. "Ugh! I wish they would tell us what the big surprise is all ready! I can't believe we have to wait for dinner!"
Though once again the day seemed to drag slowly by, at some point it did manage to come to an end. At the end of the day, Emma, Cornelia, Aidan and James found themselves seated at dinner, awaiting the announcement. It came before dinner began.
"Pardon me, students," said Professor McGonagall, standing up and addressing the crowd. "I know we don't generally interrupt your meal with announcements, but tonight we have something very special to tell all of you." The students in the Great Hall turned their heads, interested, to the Headmistress.
Professor McGonagall smiled at them. "As you all know, Hogwarts supports Quidditch very much, and is incredibly proud of their players, who all show such wonderful promise. As a sort of thank you to all of you, and to encourage flying among our other students, we would like to announce that Hogwarts had bought a new school set of broomsticks."
"THAT'S the announcement?" Emma asked, looked disappointed. "New broomsticks?"
"Not just any broomstick, mind you," continued Professor McGonagall. "We have spared no expense, and have managed to get a new set of Firebolt 500's!" The students in the Great Hall cheered, knowing that the new broomsticks would be one hundred times better than the battered and beaten ones the school had been holding onto for years.
Professor McGonagall continued. "In that same vein, I would also like to say that we are also getting a brand new Quidditch field AND equipment!" The students cheered again. Professor McGonagall waited until the cheering died down, and then invited everyone to eat the food that appeared on the tables.
"That's what we were trying to find out?" Cornelia now asked.
"I think it's great!" said James, still an avid Quidditch player.
"Yeah!" Aidan agreed.
"It's NICE," said Emma, "but it's not what I thought." She had never tried out for the Gryffindor team, despite the fact that she liked to play the game. "I mean, it IS good that we'll have the new broomsticks and the new field."
Despite the fact that the announcement was less than what they had expected and hoped for, the children were pleased that they had finally had an adventure at Hogwarts. They spent the rest of the evening listening to James and Aidan discuss Quidditch strategies, and how the new brooms would be a major asset to their team.