Chapter 4: A spin around London

After my parents and sister were in bed and long since asleep, I got out of bed and crossed to my window seat. My wand lay beside me while I gazed far out over the fields. In the far distance I could see the light that was always coming from that direction, the light meaning London. I wasn't an ounce tired and longed to be out flying.

WELL WHY CAN'T I, I thought, I DO HAVE THE INVISIBILITY CLOAK. IT IS RIGHT OVER THERE ON MY CHEST OF DRAWERS.

So I got dressed, grabbed my broom, the invisibility cloak, and my wand, and then headed outside. When I got out there I mounted my broom and pulled on the cloak.

I smiled as I rose into the air. But where would I go? The night was still young. I could go anywhere. I had always loved to see London at night. It was so magical with all that light. If it wasn't such a long flight I would go to Hogwarts instead. But in London I could visit George Weasley's twin daughters, Celeste and Lauran.

Yes, surely they would love to sneak out and go flying. They took after George in every way. It was funny to watch his pride in them struggling with his parental duties when they were in trouble. He seemed to end up getting yelled at by Alicia, his wife, more than they did on these occasions.

As I flew straight towards their house my thoughts strayed to the day after tomorrow when I would be riding the Hogwarts Express to school. I hoped to find Spencer once I got on the train. He would be a great companion to have along with Celeste and Lauran. What fun Hogwarts was going to be! Especially if I made the Quidditch team! Even if my father didn't want me to try out…

I had reached the Weasley house. Flying up to Celeste and Laurans' window I tapped lightly.

TAP! TAP! TAP!

The window was opened by a sleepy looking Celeste. I could see a disgruntled Lauran behind her.

"Whaddaya want?" Celeste asked. Then noticing my floating head said, "Oh, right your invisibility cloak. Let's go Lauran. Be right out Riley, just a second."

Then her head popped back inside and the window shut with a click. In a few minutes we were all flying side by side through London. The wind whipped my invisibility cloak around and I was once again visible.

We took turns throwing tennis balls and catching them. Occasionally Celeste or Lauran would miss and I would go in a spiraling dive to catch it inches from the ground. I never missed a throw. I never had either. It was just a natural talent, one my sister didn't share with me.

"Hey," Celeste started, "Let's go get the bat and practice hitting them too. Dad says we have a real talent doing that and would make great Beaters."

So we flew back to the house and got the bat. As it started to get light they went home to bed. I decided to put my cloak on properly and take a spin around London.

London really was magical at night. Even in the dawn's dim light it was sparkling and shining all over. I loved coming to London at night.

Soon I flew home and went to bed myself. When mum woke me up she asked why I looked so windblown.

"What did you do last night? Take a spin around London?" She laughed at her joke and walked out the door.

Chapter 5: The Girl Who Could Speak Snake

"Riley, get your self down to the car, NOW!" Mum shouted up the stairs. "It's time to go! We'll be late."

It was time to go to catch the train. We hopped in the car and drove towards King's Cross. As soon as we pulled up dad ran to get trolleys for our trunks. We wheeled them inside the station and started towards the platform.

"All you need to do is walk straight towards the barrier between platforms 9 and 10," Mum quickly explained, "Now you two go and we will follow."

So Lily and I started walking pointedly towards the barrier. Lily looked nervous. She started going faster and faster. Pretty soon she was running full speed ahead. I, however, continued walking calmly. She went barreling through the barrier. Wondering how she would stop on the other side, I followed.

I strode calmly through the barrier and saw that she had in fact managed to stop the trolley. Disappointed I loaded my trunk on the train in the compartment with all of Celeste and Laurans' things.

Scrambling off the train I saw my parents hugging my sister. They appeared to be crying. Sighing I walked over and waited for the hugging to stop. When it finally did, my sister got onto the train, blew a kiss to my parents, and went away.

I noticed that, not only did I barely get any hugs, but my parents also looked rather relieved as I boarded the train. Hoping for all that was good that my sister hadn't found my compartment I walked down the train looking for Spencer. Finally, giving up, I returned to my compartment and sat down.

There were still plenty of people outside saying goodbye. I noticed my sister was back down with my parents. Catching my dad's eye he mouthed the words "No Quidditch". I yelled back, "Yeah, right," and closed the window.

He rolled his eyes looking amused and turned back to my sister. Mum still hadn't stopped crying.

Slumping back into the seat I looked out the window again for any sign of Celeste, Lauran, or Spencer. Seeing none of them I figured they were on their way in. I could see George and Alicia down near my parents. Alicia held the hand of a young boy. Seeing him look at me I waved to him. His name was Greg, and he was the twins' younger brother. He waved back, smiling happily.

"There you are!" came a voice I recognized all to well as Lily's. "I've been looking all over."

Then leaning across me she waved to mum and dad. Disgusted I rolled my eyes. She smiled and blew kisses to them. Mum pretended to catch them and stick them on her face. Then she blew some back to Lily. I watched this feeling sick. Lily then sat down beside me.

"Look you're my sister, but I don't want to hang around with you. Why don't you go get your own friends and leave me alone?" I asked her angrily.

"Like I want to hang around with you rejects! I just want mum to think we like each other. You creeps can hang around by yourselves for all I care. I'm going up front with the cool people," she retorted evilly. I glared at her, thinking how best to curse her.

"And," she added, "I suggest you watch what you say to me. Or maybe you'd like to let me practice the full body bind on you?"

"I'd like to see you try…" I started when my trunk flew open. My sister was ghostly white. I stuck out my hand and grabbed my wand as it flew over. Then with a wave of my hand my trunk closed again. "Or is precious Lily scarred of her sister she foolishly thought was a squib." But Lily had gone running from the compartment, a look of pure terror on her face.

Looking out the window I saw her reappear next to mum. She said something and mum and dad looked at me. Pretending not to notice their pleas to catch my attention I sat down, turning my back on the window.

Just then Spencer walked into the compartment. He was lugging his trunk with an owl cage perched on top. I hurried over and grabbed the owl cage which looked dangerously close to falling. After setting her down on the seat I helped Spencer put his trunk in the rack.

"I've been waiting for you to show up. I've been here what seemed like hours!" I informed him.

"Oh, Dad got up a bit late. I had to wait to get a ride with him. Why are your parents waving like that?" He asked.

"Um… well I sort of spooked my sister a little. She told them, they must be mad. It's perfectly normal behavior, for them anyways. Just ignore it. That's what I'm doing," I replied uncomfortably.

Just then my sister popped her head in the window. "You're in for it now!" She told me happily. Then she stalked off to find her friends.

Choosing to ignore my parents no longer, I opened the window and popped my head out.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR SISTER? SHE CAME OUT IN TEARS!" Dad demanded. "YOU HAVEN'T EVEN LEFT YET AND ARE ALREADY IN TROUBLE AGAIN! YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST WAITED UNTIL YOU GOT TO SCHOOL!"

Unsuspecting that my father was yelling in Parseltounge, I yelled back at him. Unfortunately, I too spoke in Parseltounge. Oops. Now the whole platform was curious about what was going on.

My father went quiet. Mum looked pale. Everyone was whispering. Dad said something to mum and they walked towards the entrance to the train.

"Oh, snap! Now that was stupid," I said to myself. Then I noticed that Spencer was looking at me, stunned, "What'd I do this time?" I asked him quietly.

"You spoke snake to your father. That's a bad sign. I wouldn't have done that if I were you."

"I can't speak snake. It's not possible. I, oh fudge. I'm in for it now." I felt like I was going to be sick in a minute.

When my parents walked in Spencer walked out. I knew he didn't want to be around for this one. Mum covered her mouth with her hand and stood looking at me. Dad opened his mouth to say something but closed it when he had nothing to say.

"Um… I didn't know I could do that. I promise. Honestly I won't do it again…" I trailed off. They just looked at me. "Would you say something or leave me alone?" I asked miserably.

"Yes, we'll do both. You need to watch what tongue you use at Hogwarts. Now I'll ask the important question. Who was that?" Mum asked me.

"Oh, that's Spencer Wood. He's Oliver Wood's son." I replied feeling slightly better.

"Right," mum said, "We'll be off now. The train will be leaving soon. Have a good time at school."

My dad opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it and left. Soon Spencer came back in. He was followed by Celeste and Lauran.

"Cool. You're the girl who can speak snake," Celeste commented.

"Yeah, I guess so. Where did Dad say that Chamber of Secrets was again, in the girl's bathroom, right? It's in the one with Moaning Myrtle right? Hmm… this could be cool after all."

"That's our Riley," Lauran said looking proud. "Did you ever find that Marauder's Map of your dad's?"

"Of course I did. Wouldn't have left without it," I said patting my robes. "Not to mention the invisibility cloak," I added grinning at them slyly.

"But will one fit four?" Spencer asked.

"No problem. I swiped Lily's too. It's not like she'd ever use it anyways." I replied pleased that Spencer had officially joined our group. I couldn't wait for the train to arrive at the school.

Chapter 6: He's a Malfoy

As the train chugged along we got more and more excited. Spencer and the twins were getting along jovially. It seemed to be a very uneventful ride. Yet, we did not know what my sister was planning up front.

It turns out she knew I had escaped mum and dad's wrath without punishment. And she wanted revenge. As we sat, unsuspecting, they were plotting up in the front compartments. What happened next would surely go down in Hogwarts history. The whole school would be buzzing for weeks.

But, more important than the school's buzzing, was the fact that it would be recorded in most history books as Lily's and my first battle. People would read about it for centuries to come.

Anyway, back to the present. We were sitting there talking when the train started to slow. It got progressively colder and darker. Fairly soon all the lights went out and the train stopped.

Confusedly, I stuck out my hand and my wand floated into it. Muttering a quick spell, lumos, the tip of my wand lit up. Celeste and Lauran followed my example. It was rather creepy because the wands put off an eerie sort of glow.

"What's going on?" Celeste whispered to me, "What happened to the lights."

Crossing to the window and wiping off the fog that had formed on it I peered out. I could see nothing but darkness. I moved towards the compartment door.

"I don't know," I finally hissed back. "The lights are out all along the train though. I hope we aren't out of fuel or whatever runs this train."

Spencer came up behind me and we cautiously slid the door open. There, in the hall, stood a tall figure in a black cloak. Thankfully we hadn't opened the door farther because then we would have announced our presence.

"Which one are they in?" The voice came from under the cloak.

"They're in that one." A finger popped out accompanying a second voice I recognized as my sister's. "I hope this works."

Pulling my wand out from behind me I hissed in Spencer's ear, "Stay here. When I whistle you three come out ready to cast any spells you may know. This could get ugly."

I stepped into the hall as the figure tried to spin around. I cleared my throat to announce my presence. My sister's head popped out of the cloak. But, she didn't look mad. In fact she was smiling. Oh, fudge. I'd done it this time.

"Welcome, dear sister," she told me. Then, to the person under her, "Put me down you imbecile. Now! Logan I said NOW!"

Sighing as she was finally lowered to the floor I said, "What is going on? You are one weird person. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go back inside with my friends."

"Oh, sorry they're all tied up by now. I'm sure of it," She clearly was enjoying herself. "My apologies, but it was necessary."

Flinging the door open I saw that she was right. They were tied up back to back. There were five big looking fellows standing around them, wands pointed straight at them.

Whirling back to face my sister I held my temper, "What do think you are doing?" I asked her calmly, "Why are you doing this?" I pointed my wand at her.

"Oh, dear sister, this is payback. All those years our parents favored you." She glared at me as I let out a snort of laughter and struggled to contain myself. "Childish. As I was saying, all those years they ignored me (another snort of laughter) and you got the attention. You got to go to Muggle School. You were dealt terrifying blows of punishment. You were the favored one. Then today, you got away with all punishment. All because you, you greasy little slime ball can speak snake."

I cut in here, "Um… excuse me but are we thinking of the same parents? The ones who thought I was a squib, the ones who hate when I walk in on one of your "precious little moments", the ones who cringe at the very thought of me getting into trouble. The very parents who were so angry at me over something I had no control over, something like appearing on a school roof. They babied you, crooned over you, while I was getting screamed at for accidentally stepping on your foot or spilling my milk on the way to the table."

"Yes, those parents. They loved you enough to let you out into the world. I was stuck at home. You were allowed to run free. I was in the prison of our house," she retorted. "And now, you must pay for it. You move, or say anything, and your friends get it." She laughed a cold laugh that made my hair stand on end.

"Face me, sister. Face me so I can see your pain when I um…" She trailed off. I remembered she didn't know any spells.

Without moving an inch I willed the rope to be severed. It immediately snapped into pieces.

Celeste and Lauran covered the goons that had tied them up while Spencer moved to my side. My wand was pointed at my sister. I slowly lowered it. Stepping closer I grabbed her arm and the arm of her accomplice. I dragged them up to the front of the train and left them in their compartment. Celeste followed the rest of them up the hall and into the compartment.

The lights came back on and the train started moving again. I looked around the compartment. Seeing a pale sneering face looking back at me I realized who my sister's accomplice was.

After warning my sister that if she left the compartment again before we reached the school that I would have to curse her, we left for our end of the train.

I felt quite sick and was quiet for the rest of the short ride. No one seemed to notice and went on like nothing had happened.

"Who was that guy with her though?" Lauran asked as we neared Hogwarts.

"He's a Malfoy," I replied. "Logan Malfoy is my sister's friend. That can not be good."