In this chapter, Mary will start hearing voices!

I assure you though, she's not hallucinating. Though it would be fortunate if she were. It's an evil voice.

Nobody else can hear it, however. That way it won't haunt them when they sleep in their dorms!

Chapter 17: Hearing Voices

As Mary sat in the train, she noticed Dobby running straight towards her.

"He's still trying to take me back home?" questioned Mary. He was remarkably persistent. It seemed that house elves never quit until the job was done.

Well, the air conditioning was fairly decent there. And there were ice cream sandwiches in the fridge. Though she would ask Dudley if she could have some first.

She wasn't sure what Hedwig would do without her though. Did she know the way home? She sure hoped so.

However, moments before Dobby reached her, Draco approached her to blow raspberries at her.

He ended up being apparated instead.

"Noooo!" exclaimed the house elf.

"Huh. I guess I'm not going back home after all." noted the girl.

Suddenly, Mary noticed the Flying Ford outside the train window.

"Huh? Isn't it supposed to be invisible?" asked the girl with glasses.

It then occurred to her that the invisibility cloak might have shorted out.

This was not good, because a flying car was bound to get people's attention. Specifically, Muggles.

"Are you sure we're taking the right path?" asked Ginny.

"Yeah. I think." answered Ron.

Ginny pressed her hand against her face.

Fortunately, they could now see the train.

So it looked as if they were on the right…track.

"I hope they'll be alright." hoped Mary.

They did remember to buckle their seatbelts, right?

That was especially important when you were in a flying car. Though she assumed that they had remembered to lock the doors.

Would Muggles have flying cars in the future? Maybe that way the car wouldn't need an invisibility cloaking device anymore.

The train stopped at Hogwarts.

This year, Mary would be using a chariot.

She could fly to the castle that way.

Potter wondered what was piloting them.

It seemed like they were invisible.

At 4 Privet Drive, Draco wondered where he had ended up.

Suddenly, Vernon Dursley stepped out from the house.

Dobby quickly hid in some bushes.

Unfortunately for Draco Malfoy, due to his inflated ego, he had decided to wear a nametag that particular day. Though everyone in Hogwarts probably already knew who he was by now.

"You!" exclaimed Vernon Dursley.

"Mommy!" shouted the blonde boy.

Meanwhile, Ron and Ginny arrived at Hogwarts as well.

But not the way you expected.

"Watch out for that-"

They crashed into the Whomping Willow.

-tree."

Luckily, both of them were indeed wearing seatbelts.

But that wasn't about to do them much good, because the tree started to attack them.

It didn't appreciate flying cars slamming into its bark.

"Aaaahhh!" exclaimed Ginny, who was noticing cracks beginning to form on the glass.

Ron was not sure what to do.

He pulled out his wand, but the tree grabbed it and snapped it cleanly in two.

"Now I know how Hagrid feels…" remarked Ron.

For a moment, he could have sworn he heard the tree mocking him.

Luckily, Mary showed up.

She had been on the way to visit Hagrid.

The girl in glasses had been grateful for his help, though his help had been a tad reckless.

Realizing Ron and Ginny were in danger, she zapped the giant tree with her wand.

This caused it to drop the Ford.

"Whew!" exclaimed the girl.

Now Ron and Ginny would live to see another day.

Unfortunately, Professor Sprout noticed what had happened.

She was fond of that Whomping Willow.

She let out a scream.

"Uh-oh." remarked Mary.

The next thing the three of them knew, they were in Professor McGonagall's office.

"Would you three care to explain what happened?" asked McGonagall.

"The passageway to the Hogwarts Express was blocked off, so we decided to fly using our dad's car." explained Ron.

Ginny regretted trusting her brother with that. She was hyperventilating in a bag, which McGonagall had helpfully provided.

"You stole your father's car?!" exclaimed Minerva.

It looked like they really shouldn't have done that.

"Well, my brother said that it would be alright." spoke Ginny.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

"Seeing as your brother talked you into this, and you're just getting started off at Hogwarts, I'm going to let you off the hook. But could you still help Gilderoy Lockhart answer his fan mail at 8:00? I'm sure that he will give you some house points if you do, once you're assigned to a house." asked McGonagall.

The way she saw it, Ginny had suffered enough. Being attacked by a tree couldn't be fun.

"I'm going to be answering…Gilderoy Lockhart's…fan mail?" realized the redheaded girl. That more than made up for being attacked by the Whomping Willow.

Ginny fainted.

"As for you, Mary, Sprout said that you weren't in the vehicle, so I'll assume you were on the Hogwarts Express. But I assume you had a good reason to attack the Whomping Willow?" asked McGonagall.

"Yeah. My friends were in danger." explained Mary.

"That's what being a Gryffindor is about. I'd give you points, but term hasn't started yet." noted the professor. Though she hoped that the Whomping Willow would be alright, given how fond Pomana Sprout was of it. She was kind of like Hagrid.

"As for you, Ron Weasley, do you realize the consequences of your actions?! Seven Muggles saw the flying car!" exclaimed McGonagall.

To prove her point, she showed a muggle Newspaper to him.

"Seven…Muggles?" realized Ron.

What had he done?

He then remembered the car's cloaking device shorted out.

"I tried keeping it invisible…but I think it ran out of power." explained Ron.

"Be that as it may, you still stole your father's car. And for that, you shall receive detention. Report to Mr. Filch at 8:00." ordered McGonagall.

The ginger boy sighed. Nobody liked Mr. Filch.

Still, if he refused to own up to his actions, everybody would hate him. And he wanted Percy (the Gryffindor prefect) to like him. So he decided that he would do as he was told.

"And yes, your parents will hear about this. Still, it could have been worse. If term had started, you could have cost your house a lot of points." noted the head of Gryffindor.

"You mean…my mother…will know about this?" asked Ron.

He was as good as dead.

Suddenly, Neville stopped by.

It seemed Vector had been hopping about again. And he ended up in McGonagall's office this time. He was protesting her transfiguration class for transfiguring amphibians.

He felt a sense of deja vu, seeing Ginny on the floor.

Luckily, he remembered what Mary had taught him.

He clapped his hands together and snapped his fingers.

Ginny yawned.

"You need to wake up! You're going to miss the Sorting Hat ceremony!" exclaimed Neville.

"Huh? Oh, right." spoke Ginny.

She recognized him as the boy who he crashed into.

So she decided to introduce herself to him.

Perhaps she would be in the same house he was.

At the Sorting Hat Ceremony, Ginny had the hat placed on her head.

Flitwick, Sprout, Snape, and McGonagall were all seated together.

And Dumbledore was in the center.

"A Weasley girl? I find that to be unusual." noted the Sorting Hat.

Up until now, all that he had been sorting from that family were boys.

"I know. I'm the oddball of the family." remarked Ginny.

"Well, that isn't entirely true. You shall be with the rest of your family in…Gryffindor!" exclaimed the Sorting Hat.

Her family was happy to hear that.

It looked like she would be sharing space with her second year brother.

"This is the best day of my life!" exclaimed Ginny, raising her hands in the air.

"I thought you said that when you got Gilderoy Lockhart's autograph at Flourish and Blotts." noted Ron.

"Oh, yeah." remembered the girl.

Perhaps she was using that phrase a bit too loosely.

At lunch, Ron ended up receiving a howler.

He nearly choked on his food.

Just in case, Ginny was ready to give him the Heimlich manuever…which wasn't named after liches, since liches never needed that manuever.

"Oh no…" spoke the boy.

"Is something wrong?" asked Mary.

"I got sent a howler. You have to open it or it will be even louder than it already is." noted Ron.

Neville got some from his grandmother sometimes.

Ron had a feeling who sent that.

To make matters worse for the Weasley, Howlers were fireproof. So you couldn't just burn them.

"Well, thank god Draco never sent me one." remarked Mary.

It seemed he was content writing regular letters.

Mary put ear plugs in her ears, and so did her buddies, except for Ron.

"HOW DARE YOU STEAL YOUR FATHER'S CAR! AND HOW DARE YOU PUT GINNY IN DANGER! BECAUSE OF YOU, YOUR FATHER IS FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK! IF YOU DO EITHER OF THOSE THINGS AGAIN, YOU'RE GROUNDED FOR A MONTH!" exclaimed the Howler.

It was Molly Weasley, alright.

Ron shivered. That was not an exciting prospect.

"As for you, Ginny, congratulations on becoming a Gryffindor. We had a feeling you would become one. We hope you enjoy your year in Hogwarts!" congratulated the red letter.

The letter then exploded into confetti.

Ginny showed up at Gilderoy Lockhart at 8:00, as agreed.

"McGonagall said I should help you." spoke Ginny.

"I appreciate that. I don't think I can answer all this fan mail alone." noted Lockhart.

The redheaded girl noticed a massive pile of fan mail on Lockhart's desk.

"I can see why." remarked Ginny.

Inside Lockhart's office were a bunch of posters of himself.

It almost felt as if Gilderoy had been cloned.

"Dear Gilderoy Lockhart, I love you!" read one of the letters.

"Gilderoy Lockhart would like to assure you that he loves you too." assured Ginny.

Since he was grateful for her help, in addition to 20 house points, he gave her a magic mirror.

It would remind her how pretty she was.

And yes, Gilderoy thought they were the best thing ever.

However, Ginny noticed something that Gilderoy hadn't.

Apparently, the mirror could be used to deflect curses. It would shatter upon impact with Avada Kedavra, but it could still come in handy.

For some strange reason though, Croaky didn't seem to like Lockhart.

She would hop away whenever she read a book about him.

She wondered why.

At his room in the dormitory (which he shared with Ron Weasley), Neville decided to write in his new diary.

Was it a gift from his grandmother?

He didn't recall buying one.

Though now that he thought of it, perhaps he should have considered that.

"Dear Diary, my grandmother wishes for me to do well in potions. I find that hard with Severus Snape as a teacher though." noted Neville.

Much to his surprise, the diary actually wrote back.

"The teacher is Severus Snape, you say? Back in my day, it was Horace Slughorn." spoke the diary.

"This diary is enchanted? Huh, I think I like it." remarked the boy.

He decided to write in the diary again.

Unfortunately for Neville, he had no idea what he was getting into.

Ron was serving detention with Mr. Filch.

He was in his office, scrubbing a bunch of trophies that had been given to him.

One was marked Tom Riddle, who had done a great service to the school.

Maybe he should ask Dumbledore about him?

Suddenly, Mrs. Norris entered the office.

Seemed Peeves the Poltergeist was calling Filch names.

"What?! I'm going to have a word with him." spoke the unpleasant man. Nobody called Argus Flint names and got away with it.

As he left, he decided to give Ron a warning.

"You had better not wimp out of your punishment, or I'll make sure you lose plenty of points for your house." warned Filch.

Ron gulped. He had better take that warning seriously. He could only imagine how his brother Percy would react if he emptied out the hourglass.

But almost as soon as Filch left, he found something interesting.

There was a Kwikspell letter on Filch's desk.

Could it be that Filch…was a Squib?

He was going to tell all his friends.

They would want to know about it.

To make it up to Pomana Sprout for attacking the Whomping Willow, Mary decided to give her a helping hand.

Sprout understood she was saving her friends, but she appreciated that.

So Mary got ten points for Gryffindor.

She was currently using a watering can to water the plants around Hogwarts.

Suddenly, Mary heard a wicked laugh.

Where had it come from?

"Yes…I'm going to kill…they must die…for my master." said the voice.

It was very frightening.

This wouldn't happen to have been the monster Dobby was trying to warn her about, was it?

If so, maybe she should try to ask him about it.

She wasn't sure how he was going to get inside Hogwarts, however.

They had taken measures that people couldn't apparate inside without permission.

Well, she knew one person that she COULD talk about it with.

Her roommate, Hermione Granger.

"While it's possible you're simply hearing things, I suggest you be careful. Hearing voices isn't a good sign." warned the witch who was born from Muggles.

Mary noted it might be best if she carried her wand with her at all times.

She wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen.

So she decided to tell Professor Dumbledore. He of all people would want to know about it.

He allowed her into his office.

"Thank you for telling me that. Five points to Gryffindor. But I think it's about time for you to go to bed, wouldn't you say?" asked the professor.

"It's kind of hard for me to sleep after hearing that." explained Mary.

"I understand. But don't forget, you have classes tomorrow." reminded the headmaster.

She nodded.

Though she wondered if that voice was a sign of what was to come.

Mary certainly hoped not.

I hope this chapter teaches you not to steal a car.

I sure wouldn't.

There are serious consequences for that.

And yes, Ginny's mirror will be useful later.

I'm not seeing when though.

I figured you would want to stay surprised.

In the next chapter, Mary is going to learn who the new Seeker for the Slytherin Quidditch Team is.

Can you guess who?