I don't own Hellsing or Harry Potter, and I'm not making any money from this.
The nine weeks of summer were over, and September first had come around once more. It was strange to think it had been a year since she'd first set out on the adventure that was school...
"Try to stay out of trouble this time." Connie's mother told both of them as they were preparing to leave the house. She gave Mihnea a serious look. "And you keep an eye on her."
"Mom!" Constance protested. She didn't need him to be her babysitter.
Their trunks were loaded up into the car, and Jackson drove them to King's Cross to catch the train back to Hogwarts.
"What's the deal with all the DADA books?" she asked during the drive. "They're all memoirs, not textbooks."
"I have no idea." Mihnea told her. "It looks like everyone had to get the same set. I saw Alicia Gladstone from Ravenclaw carrying around the whole stack of them too."
Constance didn't understand that at all. From what she heard, Gladstone was a sixth year student. Each year always had different books that came from working in higher level classes. For all of them to have the same set was... beyond comprehension.
They arrived at the station at precisely 10:30 am. Most of the early morning traffic of people heading to work was gone already. Jackson helped them pull all of their luggage out of the trunk, then wished them farewell.
"Behave yourselves." he told them. "And I expect I'll be back to pick you up for the holiday."
That was usually the way of it. They both assured him (with fingers crossed behind their backs) that they would be on their best behavior during the school year, then pushed their trollies through the portal. Once they were through, they separated to go to their respective parts of the train. She said hello to Seamus, Dean, and Neville as she passed them to look for a suitable sitting area to settle down in. She had just opened the doors leading to the last car in the Gryffindor section when she was attacked by a figure with bushy brown hair. It took a second to recognize who it was but the moment she saw it was Hermione, Connie returned the hug.
"Oh my goodness, it feels like it's been ages!" the girl exclaimed. "How was your summer?"
Constance allowed herself to be pulled into the compartment Hermione had taken over so they could talk. She couldn't give any specific details of course, but she just had to fill her in on what occurred during the summer ball at the palace. The girl thought it was both terrible and humorous at the same time – which was an odd combination to see on someone's face.
"Oh, have you seen who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is!" Hermione gushed when the subject turned to the upcoming school year. "We got Gildroy Lockhart! I've read all of his books. He's the most amazing man..."
Connie imagined that she had. Every last one of them was required for their class. But Hermione was acting like she had a crush on the guy or something. What on earth happened to the reasonable, logical minded girl she'd become friends with?
"I'd never heard of him before I got the book list." she admitted.
Hermione's eyes widened. "You haven't heard of Gildroy Lockhart! He's only the most famous authority on the dark arts there is! He's fought just about everything that's out there. Vampires, Werewolves, Banshees, and Yetis... "
Constance quirked a brow at her. "You fancy him, don't you?"
The girl stopped her never-ending rant about how wonderful their new professor was and her cheeks went pink.
"I do not fancy him!" she replied with a firm shake of her head. "I just respect him for all of his accomplishments, that's all."
Oh yes, she definitely fancied him. Hermione was in full schoolgirl crush mode. Connie had to see this man for herself. She just hoped Granger didn't faint from happiness when she saw him at school...
"Good morning ladies!"
Both girls gave a start and looked up to find Fred and George entering their compartment. Constance checked her wristwatch. It was 10:58. The train left the station at exactly 11:00 am.
"You're cutting it a bit close, aren't you?" she asked.
They both shrugged. "We were running late this morning." Fred reported.
George nodded. "New addition to the house and all."
"Ginny lost her hairbrush and threw a fit."
"Scabbers knocked Ron's toothbrush into the toilet."
The twins sat down in the seats opposite them. "The usual." they said together.
Hermione's brows furrowed. "Ginny?"
"Our baby sister." the boys replied.
"It's her first year." Fred explained. "She'll probably be placed with us. Everyone in our family winds up in Gryffindor."
They had a sister too? That brought Connie's mental tally of Weasley siblings up to six. No, wait. Seven. She corrected herself. The oldest brother, who's name she couldn't remember at the moment, worked for Gringotts. Dear God, that was a lot of children for one family to have. Either their mother was extremely fertile, or their parents really liked each other. There was a slight shudder as the train started moving.
Hermione sat up a bit straighter. "Where's Ron and Harry?"
"Trying to find a place to sit, I expect." George said, leaning back to lounge more comfortably. "They were right behind us."
Well, with them showing up at the last minute, they'd probably have to fight their way through the crowded train cars to find something open. There were two more seats in their compartment, so surely they would show up to join them eventually.
As the train picked up speed and began it's journey in earnest, they got to hear all the gritty little details about Harry staying at the Weasley house for the remainder of the summer break. The twins made it sound like their sister had a raging crush on him, which was bound to have made things a bit awkward. Connie got to tell her story about seeing a man with trousers around his ankles being chased by an army of cockroaches again. Fred and George thought it was hilarious. She imagined they were mentally taking notes so they could pull something similar on someone else.
After a couple of hours went by, Hermione started getting worried. Harry and Ron still hadn't shown up and she was thinking about going out to search the other compartments for them. Constance would have gone with her to look if she hadn't noticed something out the window. A bright blue car flying through the sky above and to the right side of the train. It looked like it was following them. There was only one flying car she'd ever heard about.
"Um... guys?" she began, staring out the window. "Your parents' car doesn't happen to be a blue Ford, does it?"
They both blinked in surprise, then pressed their faces to the window to see what she was looking at. "No way!" they exclaimed in unison. "They missed the train and stole the car!"
"What!" Hermione shouted, rushing back in to look out at the sky herself. "Oh no..."
Constance couldn't tell who was driving, but they weren't very good it. The flying vehicle was whipping around in every direction, trying to stay on course. She wondered how they were going to land it back on the ground without crashing.
"Five Galleons says they get caught and kicked out." Fred challenged his brother.
George looked away from the window. "Ten says they don't." he fired back. "Potter's just lucky enough that they might not get caught."
Hermione stared at them in disbelief. "You're not actually taking bets on something this serious, are you?"
It was a serious business indeed, Constance thought. Flying a car through the air was bound to get them in trouble if someone who didn't use magic saw it. But she had a sneaking suspicion the boys weren't going to get thrown out for it.
"Twenty Galleons says they get caught and only get detentions." she said after a moment's thought.
Hermione whirled around and gaped. "Not you too!"
But Fred and George looked absolutely delighted she was going to take part in their little gambling session.
"I'll take that." George said.
"Me too." Fred agreed, then looked down his nose at her. "Be prepared to pay up, Stryker. Twenty each if you lose."
She arched a brow. They probably figured she could hand over that much because her family had money. It didn't really matter to her anyway. She sincerely hoped Harry and Ron didn't get expelled, but on the small chance they did, she could handle twenty each. She prayed her gut feeling would prove correct.
"Deal."
They lost sight of the car once the sun started going down. With it being dark, it was going to be tricky for the boys to pick out a safe place to land. The train pulled into the station at Hogsmeade and Constance wondered what mode of transportation they would use to get to the castle. Only the first years used the enchanted boats. Fred and George knew where they were going, so the girls followed them to a collection of open horse drawn carriages. Her eyes went wide when she saw the animals harnessed to them.
Thestrals. She thought. She'd seen them in the Dark Forest every time she'd gone out there with her cousin. Black winged horses with their skin stretched tight over their skeletal looking bodies. Despite their frightening appearance, they were really gentle and friendly creatures. However, they could only be seen by those who had witnessed death firsthand, so they had negative connotations attached to them that weren't really deserved. The magical world thought they were dark, evil creatures because of how they looked and the fact that their diet consisted of blood and raw meat. But Dumbledore was the sort of man who could see past such things, and it looked like he had domesticated a whole herd of them.
"Oh, how charming!" Hermione said as they climbed into one of the carts. "They're spelled to pull themselves."
Constance figured it wasn't unusual that the girl couldn't see them. All the other students around them didn't seem to notice the animals either. She figured it was probably best she didn't say anything. There was no point in making anyone nervous.
It was a pleasant ride to the castle and once they arrived, they were immediately herded into the Great Hall for the start of term feast. All the older students had to be seated before McGonagall would bring the first years in to be sorted. When their head of house marched the lot of them down the center aisle, Connie took in how how nervous all of them looked. Had she looked that way when she'd been sorted? Watching the sorting hat do it's job from a different prospective was an interesting experience. It was about halfway through when Argus Filch, the castle's caretaker, quietly stepped through a side door near the teacher's table and whispered something into Snape's ear. The man listened intently, then rose from his seat to follow him out. Fred leaned over to whisper.
"Ron and Harry must have gotten here then." he said quietly. "If Snape's involved, they're definitely getting booted out."
Constance gave him a sharp look, then turned back to the sorting. The twins assessment of their sister was correct. Ginny Weasley was indeed placed in Gryffindor and once the hat was taken off of her head, she walked over to their table to sit down. She was easily recognizable by the ginger hair and freckles. She found a seat near them and immediately began looking around.
"Where's Harry?" she asked.
Connie thought it was interesting she was more worried about Harry than her own brother. She must really have a thing for him. The twins exchanged a mischievous look and commenced telling a grand, highly exaggerated story of how they'd stolen their mom and dad's car and were being hexed into oblivion by Snape at that very moment. The poor girl was so horrified, she looked like she was going to be sick.
Once all the first years were sorted into their houses, Dumbledore got up to give his usual start of term speech. When Gildroy Lockhart was introduced as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, a man in fine, robin's egg blue dress robes and wavy blonde hair rose from a seat next to Flitwick. He gave them all a wide smile and dramatic bow. Most of the female students let out a dreamy sounding sigh as he sat back down. Hermione cradled her face in her hands, resting her elbows on the table like she was completely smitten.
"He looks so much better in person than in his pictures..." she said with a sigh.
If there had been a book around, Connie might have smacked her with it to knock some sense back into her. The man wasn't that good looking. She opened her mouth to tell her how silly she was, but was interrupted by the sight of McGonagall leading a downcast looking Harry and Ron in by a side door. She pointed to the Gryffindor table and said something to make them step back slightly and hang their heads. They must have endured a severe talking to, but they were still brought to the feast. The twins and Ginny parted to make space for them to sit down.
"What happened?" Hermione asked them.
Harry and Ron looked at each other, then told them the entire tale of the portal at King's Cross sealing up before they could get through, taking the car to follow the train to school, then crashing into the Whomping Willow – which then proceeded to beat the car to smithereens. Apparently, the Weasley's car had a mind of it's own because it was so upset at the boys it tossed all of their belongings out of its trunk and drove itself off into the Forbidden Forest. It sounded like they were lucky to be alive. The Whomping Willow was a truly vicious tree. Constance leaned forward.
"So what happened with Snape?" she asked. "Filch came in and got him during the sorting."
"He tried to have us expelled!" Ron said, upset. "Said we'd been seen by seven muggles and he would put us on the train home if he had his way. But Dumbledore came in and stopped him. McGonagall said we could stay, but we've got detentions for the rest of the term." he suddenly looked nervous. "She said she was going to write home about it. Mom is going to kill me!"
So they'd gotten caught, but didn't get expelled. Constance felt an immense rush of satisfaction at the knowledge her gut feeling had been right. She thrust her hand out toward the twins.
"I win." she said with a grin. "I believe that's twenty each."
"Wait a minute!" Harry exclaimed, looking at them in shock. "You took bets on whether we would get expelled or not!"
Constance looked over at him. "Fred was the one who said you'd get expelled." she reported. "I just said you'd get caught and would only get detention." She turned back to the twins and wiggled her fingers expectantly. "Pay up."
It was a sweet moment. Fred and George's shoulders slumped and they dug around in their pockets for the money. This gambling thing was a lucrative business she thought. It was no wonder they indulged in it so often. She was forty Galleons richer and never had to lift a finger.