Hey everybody! It's time to start Chamber of Secrets, so enjoy!

(Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.)

Chapter 16:

Welcome to Book 2

"'WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU,' thundered his uncle, spraying spit over the table, 'ABOUT SAYING THE 'M' WORD IN OUR HOUSE?'
'But I -'
'HOW DARE YOU THREATEN DUDLEY!' roared Uncle Vernon, pounding the table with his fist.
'I just -'
'I WARNED YOU! I WILL NOT TOLERATE MENTION OF YOUR ABNORMALITY UNDER THIS ROOF!'"

Not for the first time, an argument had broken out over breakfast at number seventeen, Tumbleweed Road.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Molly screamed, pounding her fist on the wooden table in the middle of her family's house. "INSIDE OUT WAS THE GREATEST PIXAR MOVIE EVER!"

Mrs. Evans rolled her eyes. "I liked it - it just felt a bit overhyped."

Mr. Evans shrugged and took a bite of his eggs. "But I'm glad you liked it."

Molly sighed. "I dunno," she said, eating a spoonful of cereal. "I just really liked it. I -"

"You cried into Mackenzie's popcorn, you told us a million times," Mrs. Evans said. "Bing Bong's death was the saddest thing you've ever seen."

"You should really watch Up again," Mr. Evans said. "And make sure you bring tissues."

"Very funny," Molly said. "How much longer until we leave for Florida again?"

"Two days," Mrs. Evans said. "And you have a performance at the Farmers' Market tomorrow."

"And they want you to use your guitar," Mr. Evans said.

Molly nodded. She still wasn't used to owning a guitar - a beautiful guitar, made of Koa wood, that her parents had gotten for her for her birthday.

"Sure thing," Molly said. "How long is it for again?"

"Three hours," Mrs. Evans said. "But the bank across the street said that they'll let you use their bathroom."

"Good," Molly said. "Because I cannot hold it for three hours."

"You've performed there before," Mr. Evans said. "You've held it."

"And I've had to rush out at the end of the show," Molly said. She sighed. "I can't wait to go to school."

She giggled. Usually, in stories, kids didn't want to go back to school. School was a nightmare compared to the wonder of the summer. She thought of the Percy Jackson books, which she had just caught up with a few days before, and the wonder of Camp Half-Blood compared to the monotony of school.

But after what she had discovered about herself that school year, she had no qualms about returning.

Two days and one three-hour farmers' market performance later, Molly and her family packed up, prepared for their diet of Longhorn Steakhouse's Loaded Potato Soup, and hit the road. This time, Molly was prepared; she had brought the entire Percy Jackson series, the entire Land of Stories series, and the entire Harry Potter series - she thought it would be fitting to read the books in the building where they took place. She also brought her guitar, figuring that some practice throughout the school year would do her some good.

It was September 1st when they arrived in Florida, and they immediately dropped Molly and her bags off at Universal.

"Here's the phone again," Mrs. Evans said, handing the phone to Molly. "For when you get back."

"Sure thing," Molly said. "Love you two."

"Love you!" both of them said at the same time.

Molly smiled as they drove away. As soon as they were out of her sight, she turned on the phone and dialed a number. After a few minutes, a familiar voice said, "Hello?"

"Are you here yet, Mackenzie?" she said.

"Yeah," Mackenzie replied. "I'm in the train station - and so's everyone else."

"Great!" Molly said. "See you in a sec."

"Bye," Mackenzie said. Molly hung up, put the phone in her pocket, and walked into Universal, stopping at one of the shops in Diagon Alley for her course books - all by a man named Gilderoy Lockhart, except for the book that Molly knew was for Charms - and a broomstick of her own - a Nimbus 2000, just like Harry's.

A few minutes later, she and her bags arrived at the King's Cross replica in Universal Studios. She looked around, but couldn't see her friends. Suddenly, she heard a voice cry out.

"MOLLY!" the voice said. Molly turned as quickly as she could while keeping her bags in her hands, but before she knew what was happening, Stella was hugging her as though they hadn't seen each other in twenty years.

"Okay, okay, I missed you, too," Molly said. "Now let's do this."

"Yes, let's," Stella said. "We're over here."

She gestured to the corner of the train station, where Mackenzie, Beatrix, Zoë, Ava, and Jonah were waiting.

Molly smiled and ran over to the group.

As soon as they huddled together, Molly heard the sound of thunder cracking.

"Here we go," she muttered under her breath.

A split-second later, Molly felt the ground begin to shake, and she closed her eyes. After a few seconds of the shaking, the world stilled, and she opened them again.

She turned away from her friends and felt a sense of nostalgia sweep over her. This was King's Cross - this was King's Cross on September 1st, 1992 -

She was back.

"Come on!" she said, running ahead as though her bags, falling off of her shoulders and into the folds of her elbows, weren't a burden at all. She ran and ran, finally finding the platform she needed to be at.

"Where are the Weasleys?" Molly asked.

"Not here right now," Beatrix said as she caught up. "It's a long story, but it'd be good to just get on the train now."

Molly nodded and, still carrying her bags, ran as fast as she could into the wall, the layers of reality folding back like a thin veil as she arrived on the platform. Her feet flew behind her as she hopped onto the train and found a compartment near the front. Sitting inside was another girl, just a bit older than Molly, with bushy brown hair and warm brown eyes.

"Hey, Hermione," Molly said, sitting down.

"Hullo, Molly," Hermione said. "How was your summer?"

"It was good," Molly said. "I cried at a Disney movie."

Hermione stifled a laugh. "You should've seen me at Beauty and the Beast."

"Oh, goodness - well, the Disney movie coming out this November is a lot funnier," Molly said.

"What's it called?" Hermione said.

"Aladdin," Molly said. "It's going to be really funny, from the looks of it."

"Cool," Hermione said. "Which Disney movie did you watch?"

Molly bit back the words Inside Out - she never had told Hermione that she was from the future.

"Uh, Bambi," she stammered.

Hermione nodded. "That one's sad," she said.

Molly nodded in return. "What are you excited to learn this year?" she asked.

Hermione shrugged. "Other than everything? Probably Defense Against the Dark Arts. The new teacher is really good, from the looks of it."

"What's their name?" Molly asked.

"Professor Gilderoy Lockhart," she said dreamily. "Harry got to meet him a few weeks ago."

"Really?" Molly said, remembering his name from the textbooks. "Is he nice?"

"He's the best," Hermione said. "He's written so many books about all the heroic deeds he's done - he's bested so many beasts that it isn't even funny!"

"I can't wait to meet him!" Molly said. "We deserve a good teacher after last year's Voldemort debacle."

Hermione nodded - Molly was surprised that she didn't tell Molly not to say the Dark wizard's name.

"I mean, he wasn't even that good of a teacher!" she said. "He wasn't entertaining or knowledgeable -"

"I know," Molly said. "I really liked Charms last year."

"Yeah, Professor Flitwick is really nice," Hermione said. "And I heard that we're learning Freezing Charms this year - not legitimate freezing yet, just keeping something from moving."

"Oh, that's really cool!" Molly said. "That could come in handy with Draco."

Hermione nodded.

Suddenly, the two girls could hear a large ruckus coming from a few compartments down.

"The Weasleys must be here," Molly said. "I bet the twins are down there, playing pranks on Crabbe and Goyle."

Hermione giggled. "Their jokes are a little rambunctious, but they're always fun to have around."

Molly nodded. "And man, do Crabbe and Goyle deserve it."

Now Hermione was laughing. "Oh, do they ever!"

Molly joined in on the laughing. This was going to be a fun year.

A few minutes later, the train started moving.

"Where's Harry and Ron?" Molly asked.

Hermione shrugged. "I dunno," she said. "Maybe I'll get some peace and quiet compared to last year."

"Yeah, last year was pretty crazy," Molly said. "There was Scabbers, and Malfoy, and me not knowing anything -"

Hermione giggled. "Well, you know a lot this year, and that's good," she said. "Maybe we could have a bit of a friendly rivalry - you know, to push ourselves to be better."

Molly usually wasn't a fan of competition, but she nodded. "That's actually a good idea," she said. "And we don't have to worry about getting upset with our grades, because we're both good students."

"Sounds good!" Hermione said. "Let the rivalry begin!"

She held out her hand, and Hermione shook it firmly.

"Ow," Molly whispered. "You have a firm grip."

Hermione smiled as she let go. "I pride myself on it," she said.

Molly smiled back. "I'm gonna read for a bit, alright?"

Hermione nodded. "It's fine with me," she said.

Molly nodded back and reached into one of her many bags, taking out The Blood of Olympus.

Jason hated being old, she read to herself, smiling. She was so glad that she had discovered the Percy Jackson books - or rather, that Ava had discovered them for her.

A few hours and the entire book later, the train pulled into the Hogwarts station.

"Here we are," Molly said to herself as she put the book back in her bag, balanced her bags on her arms and shoulders, and shuffled out of the compartment and off the train.

"Are we going in the boats again?" she asked Hermione as they walked together.

She shook her head. "We're taking the horseless carriages instead."

Molly's eyes widened.

"Horseless carriages," she not-quite-queried. "So that's a thing now."

Hermione smiled. "If you can imagine it, and picture it in your mind's eye, chances are it's real."

Molly smiled back. "If you can dream it, you can do it."

Hermione looked at Molly quizzically. "Is that a quote of some sort?"

"Walt Disney," Molly said. "It's safe to say I'm obsessed."

Hermione giggled, and the two focused on squeezing Molly's bags through the compact corridor.

Molly stepped outside, and she could already feel the magic hanging in the Scottish air. She was back.

Just a bit behind her, Stella popped out of the train.

"Oh, I never got to tell you," she said as she ran up to Molly and Hermione. "Remember that letter I wrote last year? The one to -"

"To Lin," Molly said, remembering Stella's ecstatic response to receiving a reply. "I remember."

"So, I got to meet him at the stage door after I saw Hamilton - which, by the way, was amazing - and I told him that I was the person who wrote the letter," Stella explained. "But he said something I wasn't expecting."

"What did he say?" Molly said.

"He didn't remember the letter," Stella said. "He didn't remember getting it, or writing a response back."

Molly's eyes widened. "But how - I mean, maybe he just didn't remember -"

"No, but I realized something else," Stella said. By this point, the three - Stella, Molly, and Hermione - were stepping into one of the many horseless carriages. Jonah, a few carriages down, was pretending to pet the horse that should've been in front of the carriage.

Stella reached into her pocket and took out a piece of paper - the letter that she had received from Lin.

"He says, I finally have proof that Hogwarts is real," Stella indicated. "I sent the letter to him in 1992 - the books didn't come out in America until 1998."

Molly gasped. "Which means -"

"Lin didn't write the letter," Stella said. "And whoever did - they might be the key to finding out who brought us here in the first place."

Thanks for reading! Here are this chapter's behind-the-magic fun facts:

1) Regarding my Percy Jackson rant in the last chapter: it was just brought to my attention that it might be Estelle Blofis (Percy's sister) who Percy and Annabeth get the bad news about. Please, no.

2) And here's the plot hole that I had to fill! I realized as I was rereading "Dear Mr. Miranda" that in 1992, the Harry Potter books wouldn't have come out yet, so the letter couldn't work within the story - but I had already put up the chapter. So...I did what any writer would do: turn a plot hole into a plot twist.

3) I also just realized that I never had Molly suggest that Hermione watches Newsies, which also came out in 1992. Dang it.

4) That is one of my favorite Walt Disney quotes, so I thought it would be cool to include.

5) The rivalry between Molly and Hermione is based on something that I did in real life with a classmate of mine. We each had perfect quiz grades for Science, so we decided to compete for who would get a higher grade on the final. She got a 97; I got a 99. LOOK AT ME I'M THE KING OF NEW YORK...

6) Don't mean to make you sad, but no, Jonah is not pretending to pet the Thestrals. He can see the Thestrals.

7) I actually saw Inside Out with Mackenzie's inspiration - and Madison's inspiration, because Madison is not dead in real life. Madison's inspiration and I still watch movies together - I saw Cars 3 with her and Opa; Wonder with her, Stella, and Zoë; and Coco for the second time with just her. She still teases me about crying into her popcorn.

8) I perform at a few farmers' markets in my area - and there is one with a bank across the street that I need to go to for the bathroom.

9) Yes, the opening is based on the opening to Chamber of Secrets. I did it for Philosopher's Stone; I can do it for Chamber of Secrets. I also thought it was a funny juxtaposition between Harry and Vernon arguing about using the word "magic" and Molly and her parents arguing about the quality of Inside Out.

Feel free to review, but please no negative reviews or cursing. (And please, NOTHING POLITICAL!) Thanks!