Misadventures at Hogwarts: Chapter 1

"Expelliarmus!"

The spell shoots out of my wand and heads directly toward Wright, who moves to the side, the spell just barely missing him. Wright sneers and says, "You really are a Potter! My granddad told me that was the only spell your father knew how to fire!"

Freddie rolls his eyes and ducks under one of the spells shot at him by one of Wright's followers, probably Andrew Goyle, and laughs cynically as he says, "Your granddad would know, since he was one of the Death Eaters who lost to our parents!"

Wright angrily shoots a spell at Freddie and grunts, his spell skimming Freddie's arm and hitting the wall behind us. "DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT MY FAMILY!"

I laugh sardonically at Wright and ask, "So it's alright for you to talk about our families, but we can't say anything about yours?! Especially after what your family did to us? To the rest of the wizarding world?!"

Wright snarls loudly and attempts to respond but Professor Binns comes floating out into the corridor wildly waving his arms out in front of him. "STOP! STOP THE FIGHTING THIS INSTANT!"

Wright immediately drops his wand, smirking at us, and says, "It wasn't much of a fight. Just an energetic talk is all, professor. Besides, they started it…"

Freddie winces as he rubs the wound on his arm. "Not a fight… Speak for yourself!"

Professor Binns shakes his head and ushers us all into a group. "I don't care who started it! You three will all be serving detention with me tonight."

I look around and realize that Wright's backup has fled, leaving him to serve the punishment for the fight by himself. I smirk at the thought then groan audibly. "Professor, Freddie and I are already due to serve detention with Hagrid tonight and tomorrow for being out past curfew."

Professor Binns taps his chin thoughtfully for a moment before saying, "I'll just talk to Headmaster Fortiter… Mister Wright, report to my classroom by seven pm."

Before I can ask him what he means by "talk to Headmaster Fortiter", Professor Binns floats up through the ceiling and disappears. Wright walks past us with a sneer on his face as he murmurs, "Until next time…"

I wait until his back is completely exposed to us before pointing my wand at him and whispering, "Petrificus totalus!"

Immediately his arms and legs snap together and he falls to the ground, entire body stiff like a board. Freddie lets out a chortle as he clutches his arm tightly and walks over to our collapsed foe. "Take that you wanker!"

I grin smugly and join Freddie, standing next to Wright, and give him a little salute. "Until next time, mate…"

Wright snarls loudly before yelling, "DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME YOUR MATE! WE WILL NEVER BE MATES!"

Freddie clicks his tongue and says as we walk away, "So testy…"

I let out a humor filled scoff and follow behind Freddie, noting the singed remains of his sleeve. "Do you want to go see Madam Pomfrey about that?"

Freddie laughs loudly and shakes his head. "What? This little thing? It's just a minor wound! I barely even feel it!"

"Oh really?" I jog to catch up with him and punch him on his new burn wound, ducking and laughing when he angrily swings a fist at me.

"OW! WHY DO YOU HATE ME?"

I shake my head at him, still chuckling, and say with a sigh, "I thought you barely even felt it? Does that mean you're a liar? Are you even really my cousin?!"

He throws his arms up, wincing a bit when the burn on his arm moves, and groans. "How did you become such a prat?"

I pull out my wand with a mischievous grin and nod to his arm. "Want me to try and fix it?"

Freddie raises an eyebrow at me. "You know how to fix a burn?"

I lean closer and examine the burned patch of flesh before shrugging my shoulders. "How hard can it be?"

He frowns slightly and rolls his eyes. "As long as you're confident about it…"

"Oh shut it. I think I read about a spell that can heal burns… Give me a second to remember it…" I concentrate on the burn, my tongue sticking out of the corner of my mouth a bit, and point the tip of my wand at his marred flesh.

The moment I move my wand and open my mouth to mutter the spell I hear Professor Binns yell, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING MISTER POTTER?"

I rise up and look around, lowering my wand in the process. "Well, I was about to heal the burn on Freddie's arm…"

Professor Binns shakes his head rapidly while floating toward us at an increasing speed. "No! Mister Weasley, I will escort you to the Hospital Wing so that can properly be dealt with. Mister Potter, you will report to your detention with Hagrid tonight. You and Mister Weasley will serve your detention with me tomorrow night, understood?"

I nod with a frown, a bit displeased that Freddie won't be along for this adventure tonight. I spare one last glance at my favorite cousin before turning and heading to Hagrid's hut.

As I walk through the corridors, I look out the windows and stare out at the sky. The sun has just set, lighting the sky with a golden hue and contrasting the dark forest against the bright sky.

I see a hooded figure hurriedly walking toward Hagrid's hut and assume its Al, marching forward to serve his detention. I pick up my pace, speed walking so that I can catch up to Al but, when I get outside, the only things I can see are the faint glow of light coming from Hagrid's windows and the tree line of the forest. I run a hand through my hair and sigh in confusion. "Where did he go?"

I can see three figures next to Hagrid's hut, one extremely large, one a bit small, and one four legged beast, both people holding lanterns and waving at me. I grin at the sight and hurriedly walk toward them, grinning when get to the hut and Hagrid pulls me into a hug. "James! I was jus' tellin' Al here tha' it's been awhile since I saw you two last!"

I stifle a laugh as he sets me down and straighten my robes. "I know… I promise I'll come visit more!"

He hands me a lantern and asks, "Not jus' when you're in trouble?"

I light my lantern and fake offense, placing a hand on my chest as I say, "Hagrid! Just how much trouble do you think I'll get in this year?!"

He glances skeptically at me as he answers. "If this year is anythin' like las' year, I'll be seein' the likes of you a lot."

I look over at Al, who is laughing so hard he can't breathe, and glower at him as I ask, "So Headmaster Fortiter said there have been some strange noises that have been emanating from the forest. What exactly does he mean?"

Hagrid's face turns serious as he motions to his chicken coop. "It's less strange noises an' more my chickens have been getting killed. They cluck really loud an', when I get up to see wha' the commotion is abou', I walk ou' an' find a mess of feathers an' blood."

Al taps his chin thoughtfully before asking, "Do you find anything else?"

Hagrid nods while answering. "Claw marks tha' lead me to think it's a beast of some kind…"

As soon as he finishes answering, the sound of multiple breaking branches echoes throughout the silent night. I pull out my wand and say, "I guess we better get to investigating… Do you want me to take Fang or Al?"

Hagrid motions to Fang and says, "You can take Fang. He'll protect you well ou' there. I'll keep Al safe with me. If anything happens, if you need any help a' all, shoot up a red spark an' I'll come find you righ' away."

I nod my understanding and wave to Al and Hagrid before heading into the forest with Fang. At first, all I can hear is the cool wind whistling through the trees and the faint sound of branches and twigs breaking. The further I get into the forest, however, the quieter it gets, until I'm left walking in an eerie silence. Fang is loyally staying by my side the entire time, his nose set low as he sniffs the ground while he walks. We walk for what feels like hours, searching high and low for signs of the animal that might be killing Hagrid's chickens. As I search, I suddenly come across a makeshift clearing, made mostly of scratched up and fallen trees.

I look around at the trees and see large scratch marks left on a majority of the tree trunks, while the tree trunks that aren't scratched up are completely broken in half, large splinters still sticking up dangerously. I run a hand over the claw marks and mentally run through all the animals I can think of that might leave these claw marks. Before I can think of anything other than werewolf, I hear Hagrid's chickens clucking and squawking loudly, clearly in a panic.

I whistle for Fang and break into a sprint toward the coop, jumping over exposed tree roots while ducking and dodging low hanging tree branches as I race back. As Fang and I get closer to Hagrid's hut, Fang begins to slow down and whimper a bit which worries me, but not enough to stop. I burst through the tree line just in time to see what looks to be a skinny, reddish-brown leg disappear into the forest.

Hagrid, Al and Fang emerge from the forest a few minutes later and jog over to me. I immediately look Al over and ask, "Are you alright?"

He nods while looking back at me and asking, "Did you see anything?"

I glance back to where I thought I saw the leg and sigh. "I… I'm not sure…"

Hagrid pats me on the shoulder and looks around warily before nodding toward his hut. "How abou' we go inside for a bit?"

Al looks at Hagrid skeptically as he asks, "What about our detention?"

Hagrid shrugs with an impish grin on his face. "The way I see it, you two jus' served your detention and now you're finishing it off with some tea. The nigh' is almos' over anyways…"

Al shrugs, a smirk spread across his face. "Okay…"

Hagrid leads us inside and, once we're all in, I take a seat next to the window so that I can look outside. I'm hoping I'll catch sight of the thing I saw when I ran out of the forest. As I sip my tea, I continue to look out the window and, after not seeing anything for quite some time, I begin to stare at the full moon and the stars that fill the night sky, zoning out as I do.

My stupor is interrupted, however, by the sound of loud, pain filled yelps and howls that seem to echo throughout the entire forest. The moment we hear it we get silent and, after glancing around at each other, I grab my wand and jump up from my chair, sprinting out of the hut and into the forest. I quickly light up the end of my wand just in time to hurdle over a raised tree root.

I hear the howling again and cut to the right, sure that's where I heard the noise originating from. I can hear Hagrid and Al calling after me, but I'm too focused on finding out if my hunch is true to even consider turning back. I duck under a low branch and propel myself over a large boulder before stopping and listening.

I wait a few moments but, as if on cue, the yelps and howls sound again and I take off towards the noise again. As I continue to run, I can feel myself getting tired and short of breath, ready to give up on my search. Just as I'm about to give up, I see it.

Fur flies everywhere as the werewolf in front of me rips at its skin, howls of pain ripping through the forest as the werewolf begins to transform back. It takes the beast a few anguish-filled moments and a mess of flailing limbs but, the transformation finishes, leaving the person crumpled on the ground and shaking. It takes me only a moment to recognize the mass of red waves that surround the girl's face.

I take a wary step forward and say, "Arys?"

Alright y'all! I would absolutely LOVE to know what you thought about this chapter! Seriously, it would absolutely make my entire day! :)

Anyways, I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! I'll try to post the next one soon, but I can't make any promises since school is getting a bit intense.

Oh, and thank you so much to everyone who has read and reviewed this story so far! I truly appreciate it! :)

Thanks!

-Tx