Chapter 4: Reliving a Memory

"Hurry and get your stuff on the train and then come out and say your goodbyes." Alicia Weasley pushed us towards the train door. We got on the train and started looking for a compartment.

"Here's one. Put your stuff in it and go back to your parents." I said, "I'll stay here with the stuff."

"But Mum wants you to-" Lauran protested.

"She's your mum and you'd better hurry up and get off to say goodbye." I interrupted.

"She's as good as your mum too." Lauran pointed out but got off the train anyway.

I leaned out the window and waved to the Weasley family. They waved back. I glanced around for my dad and spotted him down at the other end of the platform. He'd never see me so I didn't wave.

"Ah, there's my sister," Lily said from the doorway of the compartment. "Dad wants you."

"I'll be there in a second." I said glaring at her.

"Fine, I'll just go and tell him that you're down here then." Lily replied smugly.

"Whatever floats your boat."

"Hey Riley, we may want to move to the other end of the train. I just saw Lily down here." Colby said as he came into the compartment.

"Nope, she's at the other end of the train. Apparently my dad wants to see me. You'd best stay here with our stuff if you're done with your goodbyes." I said.

"Okay, but hurry, we don't have much time before the train leaves." Colby urged me to go fast.

I got off of the train and went to find my dad. It didn't take very long since he was coming in my direction.

"Hey Kiddo, you have a good summer?" Dad asked as I hugged him.

"It was decent." I replied. "Dad?"

"What?"

"How'd our family get so messed up?" I asked the question that had been bothering me all summer.

"Well, Kiddo, that's a tough question to answer. I think it all started with your Mum. She wanted one little girl, only one and she got two. She picked deciding that she couldn't love the other one as much. That's how this mess started. But remember Riley that I'll always love you." Dad ruffled my hair like he used to do when I was little and I grinned lopsidedly at him.

"I'd better get on the train. Love you Dad." I went to get on the train struggling to hold in my anger. So that was it, I had never been wanted by my mother.

"Riley Elizabeth Potter, what were you thinking not coming out to say good-bye?" Alicia Weasley had spotted me. "You come here this instant and give us your good-byes!"

Grinning I hugged both Alicia and George and told them good-bye. Then I got on the train and went to find my friends. They were all in the compartment when I got there.

"Mum wasn't too happy that you didn't say good-bye. You'd better go out now and tell her." Celeste said as I walked through the door.

"I already did." I sat down and realized I had been wrong earlier. Most of our gang of friends was there but Wood wasn't. "Hey, where's Wood?" I asked.

"He's gone off with the other first-year Gryffindors. Why?" Lauran asked suspiciously.

"Just wondering where that bumble-head had gone this time." I replied.

"Did you see the little genius?" Celeste asked me.

"I assume you're referring to Greg and no, I haven't seen him."

"He's probably off trying to make some friends." Celeste added, "I hope he does because then he won't be bugging us all term."

"Yeah, I don't like when he decides to tag along." Lauran admitted.

"Whatever you say," I commented. I didn't feel the same way as they did on the subject of their little brother. I liked to have him around because he seemed like my little brother too and I wouldn't ever take for granted that family feeling.

Celeste, Lauran, Colby, and Dean spent the entire first half of the train ride talking about God knows what. I wasn't listening and was completely bored. I decided to slip off and find someone I knew to talk to.

"Riley! How was your summer?" Olivia Johnson called from the compartment I had just passed.

"Hey, Detention Buddy!" I was happy to hear one familiar voice other than those of my lovesick friends. "It was… survivable." I finished lamely.

"That bad?" Olivia asked. "I think my sister is in the next car."

"Thanks, Celeste and Lauran are driving me crazy." I made a face causing her to laugh, "So, see you in Detention?"

"You can count on it." She replied smiling. "But I'm going to out do any prank you pull this year."

"We'll see about that." I replied. "I've got a secret weapon." I grinned mischievously and went to find Olivia's younger sister Julia.

I heard Greg's voice coming from the compartment next to the end of the car. I listened for a moment before I decided to go in.

"What do you think you were doing leaving me with your crazy sisters?" I demanded as I walked into the compartment. Greg sat on one side and had been talking to a brown haired boy that I didn't recognize.

"Sorry about that Riley," Greg didn't sound very sorry at all but I didn't care, I just liked giving him a hard time. "This is Logan. He's a first year too."

"Hi." I said to this Logan guy.

"Hi." He replied quietly.

"Glad to see you've made a friend. Celeste will be happier since she seemed to be afraid you'd be following her around all year." I said grinning my somewhat lopsided grin.

"There's this girl hanging around bugging us about some toad or something. If you see her, make her go away, please." Greg begged.

"So now I get to chase off first-year girls." I muttered and turned to leave. I did see a girl coming down the hallway.

"Hi, I'm Morgan. Have you seen a toad around? A boy named Scott has lost one." The girl wasn't a bit shy.

"Nope, I haven't seen one. And those two in there just ate too much candy and aren't feeling very well at all. I wouldn't go in there if I were you." I put on a serious face as I lied to the girl.

"Um, okay. Thanks for telling me. I was going to go in there next. What's your name?" The girl spoke extremely fast, I think she was nervous.

"Me? I'm Riley, Riley Potter. See you around Morgan." I felt the girl's stare all the way down the hall. I passed into the next car and heard the familiar voices of some of the Gryffindor girls and guys.

"Where have you been?" Julia asked me as I walked into the compartment that was filled with the Gryffindor 2nd year girls, Aaron Howe and Clark Kenton, two Gryffindor guys.

"I was down at the other end of the train with the Weasley twins and their boyfriends. Honestly I don't even think they noticed I left." I rolled my eyes and everyone laughed.

"What did you think of that World Cup match, Riley?" Clark asked.

"I think that Corinne Hodgepeckins broke off her dive too soon, even though Jacobs signaled her to break the dive off. She could have leveled it off and won the game." I said honestly.

"That's what I was saying but Aaron and Jaclyn both think that she would have gotten into trouble if she hadn't followed the order." Clark replied.

"Who cares if you get into a little trouble? If she won the game for France then she couldn't have gotten into too much trouble." I glanced at Jaclyn when she snorted at this comment.

"I hate to point it out, but not everyone's like you Riley. Some people actually try to avoid trouble, not cause it." Jaclyn laughed.

"I guess. Hey, I just thought of something. Amity, did you parents say anything about something happening at Hogwarts this year?" I asked.

"Yeah, but they wouldn't tell me what. Why do you ask?" Amity suddenly sounded suspicious.

"Several people mentioned it. I think something is happening at Hogwarts this year that doesn't happen very often." I said thoughtfully.

"You know more than you're letting on, come on out with it!" Julia demanded.

"Well, I do have a theory; mind you it's only a theory. I think that Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament again." This statement had better reactions then I could have hoped.

"What!"

"No way, wasn't it banned?"

"Yep, but they brought it back before when my dad was in school. They could bring it back again." I replied.

"No way, Cedric Diggory died last time." Julia's mum had known Diggory when she went to school.

"Yeah, and people had died before and they still brought it back. They thought it was safe." I pointed out.

"Yeah, they sure were proved wrong that time." Clark said snorting.

"We don't have anything to worry about." Chloe pointed out, "There's no way one of us second-years would be allowed to enter."

"Too bad, I thought it might be kind of fun to enter." Aaron looked crestfallen.

"You just want to be school champion. You'd flake out during the first test." Emma said laughing.

"I would not, okay maybe I would but Riley wouldn't." Aaron said honestly.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't enter that thing to save my life. It nearly killed my dad if you don't remember." I shook my head. "It's just not worth it."

"I'm with you on that one Riley," Clark said. "I don't want to die, especially not in a contest that the top witches and wizards think is safe."

"When you put it that way I have to say I agree." Aaron admitted.

"Hey Riley, where's Spencer Wood?" Amity suddenly asked.

"Don't ask me, but I think he's off with Zack, Sean, and Justin." I shrugged. "It's not like I really care who he's with."

"You never told us where you went after you won that Quidditch match last year. You remember? When you disappeared and then came back all beat up and bloody." Amity grilled me.

"Yeah, I remember. You don't want to hear about that." I replied trying to divert attention unsuccessfully.

"I know why you were mad, Wood had just dumped you. I'm not sure why but he went to the Hospital Wing later that night. He wouldn't talk about it afterwards." Aaron remembered.

"Fine, if you really want me to tell you I have to give you some… family background for it to make sense." I told the story with the whole compartment hanging on my every word. It got darker and we were close to Hogwarts when I finished.

"Wow, no wonder you didn't want to talk about it. I guess you and Spencer are still kind of rocky." Julia observed.

"I had noticed you weren't talking to him very much at the end of term but I thought you had some sort of row or something, nothing like that." Amity said shaking her head.

"Hey, looks like we're here. Thankfully, I wanted to come home all summer." I said.

"I know what you mean," Julia said, "I felt like I was in some hotel or something all summer."

We got up and went to get into the horseless carriages that would carry us up to the school. We talked as we made our way into the school and sat in the Great Hall. Then the 1st years came in and the Sorting began.