(Hello readers! I'm so sorry I take so long with updating but at long last I think I have a chapter that's ready to share. I hope I kept the Weasley Twins in character and that you guys don't think Lucy is being too angsty at the end of this update. Most importantly of course I hope you enjoy the chapter. I own nothing but Lucy. )
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"Uh Ron? Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Lucy asked as she hung onto the backseat of the Weasley's Flying Car which Ron was driving with Harry in the front passenger seat.
"Sure I do! I flew you two from Privet to the Burrow in one piece, didn't I?" Ron asked steering the car through the clouds.
Harry swallowed as he noticed a couple muggles peering out at them from their cars in the middle of the freeway.
"Uh Ron? I should probably warn you that most muggles aren't accustomed to seeing a flying car." He spoke over the noise of the car.
Ron flinched. "Oh!..Right." He hit a switch next to his seat to turn on the invisibility booster. Lucy ducked down in her seat as they flew over a mountaintop.
"Okay! Now we just need to find the train and follow it to Hogwarts!" Harry spoke opening his window so he could get a better look at his surroundings.
"Once we get to the castle, we'll park the car in the woods so no one will see it and join the second years before anyone's the wiser!"
Ron started to nod his head in agreement when the car let out a sudden groan. Lucy jerked back up in her seat.
"What was that?" She asked.
As if in response the car became visible again sputtering when Ron tried to hit the invisiblity booster again.
"That was the Invisibility booster Dad built! It must be faulty!" Ron hit the button a few more times.
Harry pulled his head back into the car. "Forget it! Let's just go lower so we can find the train!" He rolled his window back up.
Ron nodded his head. "Uh right!" He pulled down on the stick shift and sent the little car gliding away closer towards the set of train tracks they had been following since leaving the train station.
For awhile they followed the tracks in relative quiet until Lucy heard the faint sound of a whistle muffled by the click clacking of wheels on a track.
"Listen!" Lucy tried to shout over the noise of the train, rolling over to the left side window in the car.
"It's the train!" Harry grinned as Ron eased off the accelerator a bit. Athene mewed as Lucy finally managed to get the window open and let in puffs of the polluted air left behind by the smoke stacks.
"We must be getting close!" Ron started to match Harry's smile when the train whistle blew again and he realized something was wrong.
"Hang on..." Harry's smile dropped. He turned to look over his shoulder just as Lucy pulled her head back in through the window.
"Ron step on it!" She shrieked just as a huge puff of smoke came through the window. She rolled the glass shut and picked up her cat as Ron turned to follow Harry's gaze.
The train was not in front of them, it was behind them and it was gaining on them and their tiny flying car fast.
Lucy ducked against the backseat, hitting her head on Hedwig's cage as Ron sharply turned the car off the path of the railroad narrowly missing the train and causing the car to flip.
"Haaarry!" Lucy shrieked as the impact of the turn caused Harry to fly into the passenger side door popping it open.
Just in the nick of time, Harry managed to grab onto the door handle, but his left hand slipped when the car took a brief sharp dive to the right.
"Harry hold on!" Lucy struggled in vain to reach her brother over the front seat. Ron leaned over from the driver's side.
"Grab my hand!" He shouted grasping at Harry in an attempt to save him.
Harry lunged and missed just barely grazing the tips of Ron's fingers. "I'm trying!...Your hand's all sweaty!" He groaned making another attempt to grab his friend's hand.
He missed again, but this time Lucy managed to grab him by his arm. "I got you!" She panted turning red in the face as she tried to pull him in. Harry grimaced when he felt his sister digging her nails into his elbow.
"Ouch! That hurts!" He yelped nearly losing his grip.
"Get him in here!" Ron nearly shrieked, grabbing onto Harry's hand to help Lucy pull him in. Finally between the two of them they finally managed to drag Harry awkwardly back into the car.
Lucy gasped with fatigue and collapsed back into her seat as the door slammed shut after her brother. The cat crouched by her head next to Scabbers' cage while Hedwig frantically beat her wings.
"I...I think we found the train." Harry breathed as he carefully sat up and reached for his seatbelt.
Ron nodded still panicking as the gleaming engine roared off in front of them. "Y-yeah...All right back there Lucy?" He asked while not taking his eyes off from in front of him.
Slowly Lucy nodded her head. "Y-yeah!...I'm all right!" She sat up mopping the sweat from her face. "Let's ride at a slower speed behind the train." She suggested, bracing herself against the back of her seat.
Ron meekly his agreement. "Good idea." He eased off on the brakes and took the car down a little lower. A few hours later the main grounds of the castle came into sight and Harry felt his heart skip a beat as the familiar lights in the castle shone of the surface of the Black Lake sparking a feeling of nostalgia.
"Mew!" Athene pawed at the window over Lucy's shoulder as if she too were anxious to return to the school. Lucy patted her and leaned forward between Harry and Ron's seats to get a better look just as they neared the Whomping Willow Tree and the Quidditch Pitch.
Ron smiled at the view before turning to look first at Harry then Lucy. "Welcome home Guys." Hedwig hooted as if in agreement. Lucy started to beam excited to be back when her gaze fell on the cobbled stone path leading up from the platform to the school and empty surface of the Black Lake.
"Oh no!" Lucy's smile fell when she saw that there were no carriages rolling down the path and no boats crossing the Black Lake. "We're late! They're going to realize we weren't on the train!" She worried exchanging an anguished look with her brother.
Harry gave her a considering look. "Well...we'll just land in the back and hide the car somewhere before going in. With any luck they'll still be at the feast and we can sneak in before anyone's the wiser." He suggested.
Lucy started to voice her doubts on this idea when the car suddenly jolted downwards throwing everyone forward.
"Ron!...What did you do?" Lucy shrieked as the car suddenly began accelerating towards the ground despite every noticeable attempt Ron made to apply the brakes.
"I didn't do it!" Ron screamed, vainly trying to steer the car away from the trees and the lake. Finally giving up on the controls, Ron pulled out his wand.
"Harry!" Lucy pointed down at a large hulking bare branched tree that seemed to be waving by itself through the air. Realizing that they were going to crash into it, Harry leaned over to grab the wheel and pull up, but in Ron's frantic attempt to use a spell to stop the car he got one of his fingers smashed under Ron's wand.
"Oww!" In his pain Harry let go of the steering wheel just as the car plumetted straight through the willow tree. A long two minutes later it finally stopped, but not before the branches of the willow tree had thoroughly dented the body of the car and cracked the windows.
Despite Athene's frantic scratching against her clothes, Lucy clutched her cat closer to herself shaking while Ron stared horrified at the remains of his wand.
"My wand!...Look at my wand!" He barely squeaked. Harry looked first at the severed instrument then at his friend. "Just be thankful it wasn't your neck." He murmured meaning to elaborate when something snapped underneath them and the car dropped down.
"Not again!" Lucy groaned as the last few branches supporting the car broke sending it and its passengers crashing to the ground. The tree groaned as if in pain as the car landed on its wheels and rolled off down the field ejecting the children with their luggage and pets without warning as it drew near the rear castle entrance.
"Ugh!..." Harry groaned as his glasses got bent in the fall. Lucy started to pick herself up just in time to the see car rev itself up and drive off into the Dark Forest.
Ron got up and followed her gaze, paling as the car got further and further away from them. "Oh no! Dad's going to kill me." He groaned.
...
"First a house elf shows up in our bedroom!..Then the portal to Platform 9 3/4 closes!"
"Don't forget a magical car and a tree just tried to kill us!" Lucy added carefully setting Athene in her basket on top of her luggage trunk before continuing to follow Harry and Ron down an empty corridor towards the Great Hall.
"Right!" Harry nodded frustratedly at his sister. "I think it's clear someone doesn't want us here, Lucy!" He panted about to round the corner to the door when he almost ran into a tall figure in long loping black robes.
"Clearly..." A familiar sneering voice spoke scowling at the threesome as they stumbled into each other at Harry's awkward sudden stop. "...but perhaps that can still be arranged." He muttered in a unfriendly tone.
Ron swallowed audibly and though Lucy was a little afraid of what punishment Professor Snape might mete out, she stepped forward anyway to attempt to explain.
"Professor, we were-."
"Save your excuses, Miss Potter." Snape cut her off before returning his scowl to Harry. "I'm afraid...there is no talking yourselves out of this." He gestured with his arm before turning to leave down the corridors.
No one hesitated before following him though it didn't take a genius to figure out where he was leading them.
"Professor..." Lucy shivered and tried again to explain as they reached the door to Snape's office in the dungeon. "...please let us explain. We would have been on the train on time if the portal hadn't closed early."
"So that gives you the right to steal a magical car and nearly destroy it and the wizarding world attempting to drive it to the castle?" Snape cut her off startling Lucy with the harshness of his tone.
As if to accentuate his point, he forcefully unlocked the door to his office and opened it gesturing for the three second years to enter first.
"We didn't steal it! We were borrowing it!" Harry tried to defend his sister who looked suitably subdued and a little upset at the reprimand she recieved.
"You were seen by no less than seven muggles!" Snape retorted pulling out a chair at his desk and dropping into it before picking up a copy of the evening edition of the Daily Prophet which had a large photo of them in the Weasleys' car flying over London.
Ron's eyes bulged from their sockets as he read the headline barely finishing before Snape slammed the paper back onto his desk.
"Do you have any idea how serious this is? You have risked the exposure of our world! Not to mention the damage you inflicted on a Whomping Willow tree that has been on these grounds since before you born!" Lucy hung her head while Ron and Harry exchanged looks.
"Uh, honestly Professor Snape...I think that tree did more damage to us." Ron started to pull out his broken wand when Snape interrupted. "Silence!"
Lucy flinched and continued to study her shoes as Ron and Harry fell suitably silent. "I assure you," Snape glowered as he rose swiftly from his seat to round in on them. "That were you in Slytherin and your fate rested with me, the lot of you would be on the train home tonight!" The threat fell like a whiplash on Lucy who despite the situation was surprised to find herself blinking back tears.
"As it is..." Snape suddenly lowered his voice when an older more frail sounding voice interrupted him. "They are not!"
Harry and Ron looked up simultaneously and turned to see Professor Dumbledore along with Professor McGonagall standing in the doorway to Snape's office with a serious somber expression on their faces.
"Professor Dumbledore!...Professor McGonagall!" Harry breathed finding his voice first. As if suddenly finding his courage again, Professor Snape strode towards the Headmaster.
"Headmaster, these children have flouted the decree for the restriction of underaged wizardry! As such-!"
"I am well aware of our bylaws, Severus. Having written quite a few of them myself." Dumbledore cut him off, speaking calmly but with a certain firmness to his tone.
"However, as Head of Gryffindor House it is for Professor McGonagall to determine the appropriate punishment." He nodded towards the woman beside him.
Ron sighed and hung his head as a soft sniffle escaped from Lucy.
"We'll go and get our things then." He mumbled, his tone as dejected as Harry and Lucy felt. Professor McGongall gave him a surprised look.
"What are you talking about, Mr. Weasley?"
Ron blinked as if he too was fighting back tears. "You're going to expell us aren't you?" He asked glancing at Lucy who hadn't so much as budged from her spot since Dumbledore and McGonagall arrived.
Professor McGonagall smiled sadly and shook her head. "Not today Mr. Weasley. But I must impress on all three of you the seriousness of what you've done." She added quickly when Harry and Ron exchanged relieved glances.
Immediately the smiles slipped off their faces. "We do." Harry said with all the sincerity he could manage.
"All the same I will be writing to your families tonight and you will all recieve detentions for a month." Professor McGonagall finished. Again Harry and Ron just nodded and this time Lucy did as well, rubbing her eyes quickly before turning to face McGonagall and Dumbledore.
"Very well. If there is no other pressing issue, I must implore that the three of you now return to your Dormitory where a meal will be waiting for you in the common room. Goodnight." Dumbledore genteely tried to dismiss the three students, but another sniff from Lucy drew Harry's attention first.
Noticing the slight moistness of her eyes and her attempts to appear unaffected, Harry turned a glare in Snape's direction as he followed her and Ron towards the door only to see that he was no longer glaring at them.
Or at least he wasn't glaring at Lucy. Confused yet deciding there was little point in trying to make sense of Professor Snape, Harry returned his attention to his twin.
"Are you all right?" He asked once Professor Dumbledore had closed Snape's door behind them.
Lucy quickly nodded her head. "I'm fine!" She snapped a little more testily then she intended walking a little bit ahead of the boys. "You don't look fine." Ron said a bit obviously.
Lucy only sighed in response.
...
"Why the long face, Miss Potter?" "Is the bacon rank?" Fred joked as he and George sat down on either side of Lucy at the Gryffindor table the next day while she sat poking her spoon around in her breakfast without eating it.
Lucy just sighed in response and shook her head as Ron, Harry and Hermione stared at her worriedly over their own meals. "It's nothing." She mumbled though she was already growing tired of giving this response.
"She's upset because she has detention for a month...well the three of us do actually." Harry explained gesturing between himself and Ron. Lucy gave him a sharp look.
"I'm not upset about Detention." She snapped. "Well not much anyway." She amended quickly her cheeks turning a furious shade of pink. Hermione creased her brow.
"But of course you are. Anyone would be upset about that. Especially when it wasn't really your faul-."
"I think it was Professor Snape." Ron interrupted then elaborated when Hermione gave him a look that was half confused and half wary. "Well...anyone would be afraid of him especially since he hates us. Plus he was going to expell-."
"I'm not afraid of Profesor Snape. Would you lot just give it a rest?" Now it was Lucy's turn to interrupt. Fed up, she dropped her spoon on the table and stalked out of the Great Hall dropping the book she had on her lap.
George quickly scrambled to pick it up and turned to call after her, but to his surprise Lucy was already gone.
"Well that went well. What exactly happened last night anyways?" Fred asked following his twin's gaze briefly before looking towards Ron and Harry.
Hermione stood and silently left the table at this leaving her own meal half finished presumably to go after Lucy.
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing aside from what we've already told. Lucy's always been a bit sensitive though. I'm sure she'll come around. Just give her time." He said without too much confidence.
While it was true Lucy was more easily upset by scoldings and such, he'd never seen her quite this upset by them before.
At first he thought maybe it was the way Professor Snape had threatened them with expulsion until he realized that Uncle Vernon and Dudley have used worse threats on them before.
Surely she couldn't feel as bad about almost getting expelled as she did about the whipping Uncle Vernon gave her one time for leaving scorch marks in his trousers when they were six.
"Well do you think she'll want this back?" George held up the book Lucy had left and inspected the binding until Fred took it from him.
"Why would she want this back? Potions will only make her feel worse." He said incredulously wrinkling his nose as if catching a whiff of a bad odor from the text.
George snatched the book back. "Yeah, you're right. Maybe we ought to just hold on to it then." He started to grin in his normal mischevious way until Fred grabbed the book again.
"Or better! We could burn it." He chuckled expecting his twin to share in his joke as he pulled his wand from his robes. Turning it point side to him, he offered it to George without noticing the slight narrow in his brother's eyes.
"George? Would you like the honors?"
Suddenly Harry reached over and snatched the book from Fred's open hand. "Oh give it here!" He huffed, getting up to leave the table as well though he too hadn't finished his plate.
"Easy Mate! We weren't really going to incinerate it!" Fred tried to call after him, but Harry gave no response.
...